Restoring photos from 1970s - How to remove that orange tinge

[MiniHistory]

I looked but couldn't find any posts about this. I'm currently copying and printing photos taken in the 1970s which have developed that nasty orange colour. I use Irfanview and The Gimp when attempting to restore normal colour levels - I don't have Photoshop. I usually drop the red by 24 and raise the blue by 2 but the results aren't fantastic. Is there a rough formula which can be applied in all cases?

[sarah]

Hi minihistory,

Do you have white balance picker in your software ? I would normally pick something that should be grey (tarmac path etc) and the colour picker will correct for this.

It is the white balance command that you are looking for on the gimp.You can access this command from the image menubar through Colors → Auto → White Balance.

Regards

Sarah

[Handypandy]

I don't know of a 'one size fits all' but after the approximate steps that you've done, I sometimes experiment by adding a blue overlay layer and playing around with the opacity.

[MiniHistory]

Hi minihistory,

Do you have white balance picker in your software ? I would normally pick something that should be grey (tarmac path etc) and the colour picker will correct for this.

It is the white balance command that you are looking for on the gimp.You can access this command from the image menubar through Colors → Auto → White Balance.

Regards

Sarah

That works a treat! Thank you. I wouldn't have thought to utilise that tool.

[MiniHistory]

I don't know of a 'one size fits all' but after the approximate steps that you've done, I sometimes experiment by adding a blue overlay layer and playing around with the opacity.

I'll have to give that tip a go as well. I think it's a case-by-case thing but both you and Sarah have put me on the right track.

[jloy326]

Can you upload the photo? . There are many paths you could take. It would be easier to give some explanation after playing with it

[1banshee]

Hi,

If you have Photoshop or similar, then using "Levels" option and altering the RGB levels, (individually), via sliders is an excellent way of bringing the true colour values back to a faded or discoloured photograph.  Especially great for getting rid of that awful orange staining effect!  I recently used this method on a number of scanned photos from the 70s and they turned out brilliantly!

[MiniHistory]

Can you upload the photo? . There are many paths you could take. It would be easier to give some explanation after playing with it

I have many photos so I was curious about whether there was a standard way of reducing it. It seems I'll have to play around with individual shots. Still, there are worse ways to pass the time

[MiniHistory]

Hi,

If you have Photoshop or similar, then using "Levels" option and altering the RGB levels, (individually), via sliders is an excellent way of bringing the true colour values back to a faded or discoloured photograph.  Especially great for getting rid of that awful orange staining effect!  I recently used this method on a number of scanned photos from the 70s and they turned out brilliantly!

Yes, I think a combination of that and the white balance adjustment seems to work well.