RootsChat.Com
Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: Fbarry on Friday 21 July 17 19:04 BST (UK)
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Hello,
I have finally gotten to where I can fix folds and scratches, but this one is way beyond my ability. Hopefully somebody out there can make this look a little better. Also wondering if the decade could be determined. The is a photo of Patrick Quinn, born in Co Longford Ireland, in the 1830's or 40's.
Thanks,
Frank
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till the good ones appear:
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A try from me...
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And a try from me.
Terry
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Hi Frank, there have been some great restores so far, notably from HandyPandy.
I took a quick look at the digital photo and there are three things I notice:
- the scan resolution (300dpi) is fine though 600 dpi would be even better
- it has visible vertical 'banding'
- it has quite a bit of JPG compression 'noise'
I'm a relative beginner at restoration but it would help me make a stab at it you would adjust your scan settings so that:
- you scan at the highest resolution possible
- the scanner saves the scan file not as a JPG file but as an (uncompressed) TIFF or BMP file; TIFF is better (smaller file)
Your scanned TIFF (or BMP) file will be much larger than you can post as an attachment on Rootschat so you need to upload the (uncompressed) digital photo somewhere online (Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, etc.) and then post a link to the photo here,
Note that you only need to do this if you're less than satisfied with the restores posted here!
The reason I ask is that my usual approach to 'de-banding' (Fast Fourier Transform) doesn't seem to work very well with this photo. I suspect this is because of the JPG 'noise' in the photo. I can't promise anything, but I suspect that a 'cleaner' (TIFF) digital photo would help me to remove the vertical banding.
If more experienced restorers think otherwise than I stand corrected!
Mike
Hello,
I have finally gotten to where I can fix folds and scratches, but this one is way beyond my ability. Hopefully somebody out there can make this look a little better. Also wondering if the decade could be determined. The is a photo of Patrick Quinn, born in Co Longford Ireland, in the 1830's or 40's.
Thanks,
Frank
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27758764356875
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One from me
Pat
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Another with a different tone
Pat
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Two more. Cheers, Peter.
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Hi Mike,
Thanks for all the great info. I didn't scan this particular photo. It was sent to me from a newly discovered cousin who found me through ancestry.com. I will ask her if she can re-scan. I normally scan is a high resolution, but normally as jpg. I didn't know about the advantages of scanning as a tiff, so I will start doing that from now on. Thanks for that tip!
And to japeflakes, Handypandy, terry h, pablo59, trishanne, and McGroger - Thanks to every one of you !!! I think you all did wonderful jobs. I can't believe what you were able to do with a photo in such terrible condition. It's so awesome how all of you take your valuable time to help others on this forum. Your efforts are truly appreciated !!!
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And thanks too to loord74, nice job !!
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Tiff is fine for home use or photo hosting websites but for Rootschat Jpeg is better as the file size is more manageable for the 500kb limit on here.
Carol
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Another for your collection :)
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Hi Frank,
I think a lot depends on what you want to do with the photo. As a smallish photo on a website somewhere, the restores so far are more than sufficient.
If you need a high quality (or printed) photo then the highest resolution scan (with no loss of detail through 'compression' = TIFF file) will give you the best quality restore. As others have pointed out, you won't be able to post a large (TIFF) file as an attachment here so you'll have to upload it somewhere online and post a link here so that restorers can download it.
If you're happy with the restores so far, then you don't need to do anything else :)
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thanks for all the great info. I didn't scan this particular photo. It was sent to me from a newly discovered cousin who found me through ancestry.com. I will ask her if she can re-scan. I normally scan is a high resolution, but normally as jpg. I didn't know about the advantages of scanning as a tiff, so I will start doing that from now on. Thanks for that tip!
...
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Like I said...Tiff files are huge and not suitable for posting on Rootschat unless you know what you are doing...as resizing for posting here often results in compression which is counterproductive..Please see guidelines for posting photos for restoration.
Carol
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I wasn't happy with my first attempt so I have tweaked it a little.
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Carol and Mike, thank you both for the tips regarding different file types and their appropriate uses.
STSEARCHER, great job, it looks terrific, thanks for the time spent.
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I totally agree with Carol, I find it difficult to open files for restoring unless they are in jpeg format, I would much prefer to work on photos in jpeg please.