www.restoring-photos-made-easy.com

[Jane Eden]

Gary

I just clicked onto your site for the 1st time. The tutorials are great. The explanation about colour is really clear. I have checked out the sepia house, dust and scratches and the cracking and creases. I'm off work this week so I am going to try out the techniques.

Just 1 problem, when downloading the cracks & creases program I don't know where the actions folder is. Do you mean required>Image ready default actions>default actions? I haven't done it yet in case I am wrong. I am using Photoshop CS2

Jane

[Gary56]

Hi Jane ... i'm still using Photoshop CS (Not CS2 at the moment) ..

For me the actions are put in /Adobe/Photoshop CS/Presets/Photoshop Actions/ folder ... I think they are the same in CS2 ...

So you just need to copy the de-crack.atn file there ...

Then you need to load the de-crack action from your Actions Tab as per usual with any other action ..

Hope this helps ..

Regards,

Gary Wilkinson
www.restoring-photos-made-easy.com

[Jane Eden]

Gary

Thanks. Found it.

The dust and scratches works really well although 1st time through was weird when it went so blurred!

Jane

[Gary56]

Not a problem Jane ... Just be aware that the de-crack action is not going to get rid of everything ... I like it because it gets rid of a lot of little cracks and creases which used to take a lot of time to do manually ...  It does a half decent attempt at the "bigger" ones ... enough for me to then go over with my manual techniques ...

Also ... if you notice the action has in-advertently removed some "fine detail" then the great thing is that the de-crack action does not actually alter your original layer .. it just adds the three de-crack layers ..

You can use an Eraser to "remove" parts of the de-crack layers to reveal the underlying wanted detail ..

hope this helps ...

Regards,

Gary Wilkinson
www.restoring-photos-made-easy.com

[Jane Eden]

Gary

Still being a bit thick!

'You will need to save decrack.atn in Photoshop's "Photoshop Actions" folder and then "load" the de-crack action into your current action list.'

I have saved it in Photoshop actions. How do I load it as I can't find it in th program when I run it.

I hope you have seen my post under black spots. I couldn't have done that before yesterday and it only took me 5 mins.

Thanks

Jane

[Gary56]

Hi Jane ... not a problem ... and not thick ... sometimes if I've been away from PS for a while I also forget where things are etc  ..

OK ... you have the de-crack.atn in the correct folder ...

1. Open up Photoshop .... 
2.  Open up the Actions window .. (Alt F9 in Windows version of PS)
3.  Top right of popup window under the "RED CLOSE WINDOW Cross" should be a right pointing arrow in a grey circle ... Click on it
4.  You will see "Load Actions ..." half way down ... Click on it ...
5. You should then get a browse window that shows the contents of your action folder ....
6. Look for "de-crach.atn" and click Load
7.  You should now have the de-crack action in your Action List ready to now run .....

Hope this clarifies ....

Regards,

Gary Wilkinson
www.restoring-photos-made-easy.com

[Jane Eden]

Hi Gary

Loaded it, used it, amazed!

I've just been reading the sepia tutorial. I am going to try converting the next sepia to BW, restoring and then changing it back to see if it improves the result rather than keeping it sepia all the way through.

Thanks

Jane

[Gary56]

Hi Jane .. Glad my instructions were not too cryptic ..  Of course I want to emphasise I cannot take credit for the action .. it is Tim's ... but thought people on the forum could use it ..

Yes ... rightly or wrongly ... that's what I do with old sepia toned photos ... 

Do all my restoration in B/W and then use the technique explained in the tute to get a new Sepia print ...

I tend to think working in B/w gives my brain the ability to see detail far more easily ... In fact I did read somewhere that the human brain looking at b/w can very quickly "see more detail" because the brain is not having to "decode" all the colour information coming into the eyes ...

Regards,

Gary Wilkinson
www.restoring-photos-made-easy.com

[Keith Bateman]

Hi Gary,

Just tried the first tutorial about removing Scratches etc - Excellent!!

I have tried other tutorials and usually at the 3 or 4 try managed to follow the instructions - but the trouble is I never know WHY I am doing it!!

With your first one, I not only followed the instrustions first time - but you explained what was actually happening - so now  I know what I am doing ( I think!!)

Will try the others tomorrow - hope they are as easy to follow - look out for my "rants" if not!!

Cheers

Keith