PRINT YOUR OWN
BEGINNERS' BASIC RESTORATION METHOD FOR
OUR HIGH RESOLUTION SCANS
ALSO WORKS ON THE IMAGES DOWNLOADED FROM THESE
PAGES
THIS IS NOT A COMPREHENSIVE PRINT RESTORATION
MANUAL.
CONSIDERABLE SKILL & EXPERIENCE WILL REQUIRED FOR DIFFICULT OR COMPLEX MAGES
- BUT THE
RESULT CAN BE STUNNING
| Downloading Images from this Site | The easiest and quickest method is to right mouse click on the selected image and select "Save Picture as...". The image can then be saved to your "My pictures" folder or anywhere else that you might choose. Copy the file using a lossless format (bmp,. psd, tif, etc.) and work on the copy keeping the downloaded file in a safe folder. |
| Buying & Receiving 600 dpi Scans | If you have not
done this type of work before, start off with a relatively clean and
straightforward image free of major blemishes and imperfections. Scans will be sent by email to your PayPal registered email address. Some images are very large, up to 5Mb., so be sure to have your email attachment file size filter turned off. The images are in low compression jpeg format. Save the image and use it only as the source file. Work on a copy and save you work in a lossless format (bmp, psd, tif, etc). Multiple saving in a lossy, compressed format will cause a noticeable degradation of the image. |
| Working Environment | Instructions are for Adobe Photoshop®. Other software may vary slightly. |
| Save your Work Regularly | Save your work at regular intervals using a new image name each time. |
| Don't Sharpen until Finished | Sharpening seriously damages images if used too often or too vigorously. Less is more. |
| Getting Out of Trouble | Before starting set History States to at least 50. ("Edit - Preferences - General"). Remember that "Ctrl + Z" takes you back one step. "Ctrl + Alt + Z" takes you back one at a time until you run out of History States. If you go too far, "Ctrl + shift + Z" brings you back one step at a time. "Ctrl + Z" brings you right back in one go. |
| GETTING STARTED | |
| Removing Paper Toning | Select: "Image - Adjustments - Curves" and click on
the white eye-dropper (White Point Control). Find the
lightest area of
the background paper and "click" on it. If the
overall colour has not improved try clicking on another area
nearby. Repeat until you are happy with the overall tone of the image.
Ignore stains, just eliminate any blue, beige, brown or yellow caste
that effects the clear paper background. Ignore stains as they are dealt
with next... Click "Save" |
| Removing Background Stains and Local Toning | Select: "Image - Adjustments - Replace Color". Set
"Fuzziness" = 10. Click on the lightest
part of the stain not directly over the image itself. Set "Lightness"
=100. Select the "+" Eyedropper and select the next remaining
lightest part of the stain. Repeat this up
to 4 times. Check the image to be sure that you are not loosing any of
the image itself. If you are, select "Cancel" and then use the
lasso to isolate the stain from the rest of the image and repeat the
procedure until the stain has gone. Repeat as necessary with other
stains but always checking that you are not damaging the image itself. Don't use this technique on stains that do not directly impinge on the image itself, they are dealt with next. Save. Finally, use this technique to remove any residual unwanted general paper toning. |
| Removing Borders, Marks, Tears, Etc.. | Set brush to around 100px diameter and 100%
hardness. Set colour to pure white or, if you prefer a slightly antique
look, select the lightest part of the image background (Alt + left
click) as the brush colour and use it to eliminate isolated blemishes and marks. For the best effect, use the brush to remove colour overruns and engraving errors around the edges of the image. When doing this it is best to set the hardness to around 95%, otherwise the image can end up looking like a paper cut-out. |
| Try Auto Color Skip this part if you are going to complete the Second Stage. |
Select: "Image - Adjustments - Auto Color".
Sometimes the effect is wonderful, sometimes a complete disaster. "Save"
it if it works, "Cancel" it if not. If Auto Color does not work for you, select: "Image - Adjustments - Curves", drop the lower half of the curve slightly and lift the upper part by the same amount (nice smooth shallow "S" curve) to give stronger contrast and some enhancement of definition. Does it improve it? If so, "Save". Otherwise "Cancel" and be happy with what you have. |
| FIRST STAGE COMPLETED | It's is remarkable just how well an old print can respond to this simple procedure. Unless you are adventurous, have nothing much else to do or are very adept at image processing, go to "Final Sharpening". |
| Correcting Colours | This is a repeat of the Removing Paper Toning
process, using the same settings, but this time use it to select a
single colour that is obviously wrong (reddish-brown grass is typical,
bright yellows have often turned dark orange). This time check the image
carefully at each stage. At each click a little more of the area with
wrong colour will disappear. If other parts of the image are lost in
this process they can be rescued by switching to the "-" eyedropper and
clicking on the missing patch. Eventually most of the wrong colour will
vanish. Now set the "Lightness" control back to "0". Everything should appear to return to how it was before but you have now selected all the areas of wrong colour. Now using a combination of "Hue", "Saturation" and "Lightness" bring the colour back to what it should be. Start off using a small change of hue, "+10" or "-10" is good start, followed by a small increase (+15) in saturation. If the colour is going the wrong way (too blue instead of yellow, too red instead of green) then change the hue to the opposite side of zero, leaving saturation unchanged. Experiment with Lightness to see if it improves the effect. Check the effect by clicking "Preview" on and off. Gradually amend all the controls until you have it right. Click "Save" Repeat the process for each wrong colour saving the image at the end of each stage. |
| Correcting Brightness & Contrast | Don't use the "Brightness/Contrast" control, it does
not work on these images. Select "Images - Adjustments - Curves". Holding the left mouse button down, run the cursor over the darkest areas of the image where detail appears lost in the blackness (not all images suffer this problem). As you move the cursor over the image you will see a marker on the curves graph move up and down the line. Note where it is when the cursor is on the area that needs attention. For overly dark ears, distort the curves line at the points noted so that the angle is more vertical (upwards). Ignore all other parts of the image at this stage. Then move the changed part of the line up or down to get the balance between revealed details and shadow just right. Now bring the rest of the line back to a 45 degree angle so as to redress any faults caused elsewhere. Click "Save". Repeat the process for any overly bright areas, this time bringing the line downwards. Again reset the rest of the line to 45 degrees (more or less). Click "Save" Now you can fiddle around with any parts of the curve that still need adjustment - it's impossible to describe all the little tweaks that can be necessary - just make sure that no part of the line ends up near horizontal or near vertical. With practice it is amazing how much detail can be found hidden in shadows and highlights and how a seemingly dull image can be brought to life. If your software allows multiple layers with masking (PhotoShop7 and above), use duplicate layers to work on individual faults, ignoring any bad effects elsewhere on that layer,. Then use the mask tool to blend the corrected layers into one image. A high level technique that can be used to overcome the most difficult colour and contrast faults. |
| Recovering "Lost" Detail | This is the most time-consuming but rewarding exercise requiring long experience, great technical and artistic skill, a thorough knowledge of the subject and a complete understanding of how antique prints were originally made. As a guide, our Pileated Woodpecker restoration took 217 man hours to complete. Best left to the experts. |
| Final Sharpening | Select: "Filter - Sharpen - Unsharp Mask". Set
"Amount" = 75, "Radius" = 0.7, "Threshhold" = 0.
Any more than this and the image can end up looking like a comic-strip
cartoon. Click "OK". That should do it, since these are very high resolution scans there should no need to sharpen any more that this. If you really must, then repeat once using the same settings. |
| Printing | Most domestic printers have a print resolution of
300 pixels per inch (don't be confused by claims of thousands of dpi -
this refers to the micro-dots of ink, not the number of pixels). The
full size scans are 600 pixels per inch. They produce a print twice the
size of the original print. Set your printer to "Image Size" =
50% . Using 100%
will give a double-sized (4 times area) image with no loss of
detail, ideal for smaller images to show the maximum detail but you will
have to downsize the titles and scripts. Use white paper, using antique effect or off-white paper dramatically dulls the image. For small prints (up to A4) use satin-matt paper. For larger prints use smooth matte paper. Frame it and feel proud - that's one less page ripped from a valuable old book. |
