A new Challenge!

[ladybee]

Can anyone help please.

I found this photo of my mum (who is now 96) and her younger brother when I was going through some of her old photos.  As you can see it has been through the 'wars' and green ink has been spilled over it.

Is there any hope of bringing it anywhere back to its former self?

Any help would been more than much appreciated.

Nannybabs

[gippeswyc]

Welcome to the gathering ladybee 

I see you have set us a stiff challenge 

[kizmiaz]

Hi Ladybee. Nice to have you here

I don't think all hope is lost just yet for this poor picture. I've spent a few minutes straightening it, removing the green ink stain and adjusting some contrast, and this is what comes out, so there is quite a lot of information still there. The repair of the scrathes, tears and the general shape of the picture will take some time, but it should produce a fairly decent result.

Other commitments keep me from having a go right now, but I'm sure someone will get a good result for you quite soon.

Glen

[ladybee]

Hi Glen,
How fantastic, I didn't think it would be possible to remove the ink stain.  The detail of my uncle is so good considering how little there was to go on.

Many, many thanks

Ladybee

[gippeswyc]

Hi again - I'm leaving this for now otherwise I will be up all night! Heres an idea of the progress I have made. I just cant get the hands right so the end result might be a headshot but I'll see what tomorrow brings 

deleted - finished version submitted.

[Keith Bateman]

Hi Glen,

Can I ask how you removed the green - without leaving an edge to it?

I had a quick go at altering the colours present - removed the green but still got a line down the centre.

I only tried for a few mins so perhaps need more time - but wondered if you have a special way.

Cheers

Keith

[arnietheother]

Here's a partial restoration. 
I'm not going to have time to do any more to this, so if any of the
more active members here want to take this and further develop,
colour or use it as a blend layer etc please go ahead.

I can't imagine how I made the skirt look like that.
Arnie

[kizmiaz]

Hi Keith

I removed the green in PSP by splitting the channel into RGB. The green channel is relatively clear, so I used this to work on. There was still a very definite distinction between the two halves, so I duplicated the layer, and on the upper layer adjusted the Brightness/Contrast control until the stained side sort of matched the clear side as closely as possible, and then selected and deleted the non stained area on the upper layer, staying as close as I could to the join. The two halves more or less matched each other for contrast and brightness so I just used the clone brush to blend in the edges. I then recoloured it to match the original (non-stained) photo.

Glen

[deadants]

Unfortunately i have to go out today but I can't wait to get back and have a look at this photo. As Glen says, look at your color channels. You should see one channel will show a stronger stain than the others, This will give you a good idea where to paint your layer mask.