[Gimp-user] how to darken bright areas

[paulhurm <forums gimpusers com>]

OK, I'm replying to myself here and will attach my recent before and after work
for comments.

I will post details of steps if anyone is interested but basically I relied on
GMIC tools to achieve what I have here. Luckily, if I decide that this process
might be worth pursuing with the rest of the photos, it is a fairly easy set of
steps.

To my eye at least, the after shot does a pretty good job of toning down the
white areas that I complained about. You can still tell that the image is
degraded but at least they are not so bright and distracting to the eye. If you
look at the middle guy's chest area you will see that my result does not solve
the problem of lost detail and I don't expect there to be any way to regain what
has been lost. That is just what I have to accept.

I just wish the negatives had survived! My 93 year old aunt did not even know
this album existed when I showed it to her for the first time so it apparently
is something that my grandfather put away and never displayed. She has no idea
what ever might have happened to the negatives so I don't ever expect to find
them at this point. OTOH, I did actually find 2 negatives mixed in with other
more recent photos my grandfather took which have survived, so I think the
disappearance happened later rather than that they never made it home from
France.

I'm still definitely willing to listen to any other advise anyone has but please
take a look at my two attachments "Original" being the original scan and "Method
1" being my GMIC work. Comments appreciated!!!

Paul


Attachments:
* http://www.gimpusers.com/system/attachments/432/original/Original.tif
* http://www.gimpusers.com/system/attachments/433/original/Method_1.tif

-- 
paulhurm (via www.gimpusers.com/forums)