'Restoring' old newspaper photo
Hi everyone. I'm looking for any tips anyone might have on how to restore or improve the quality of this old newspaper photograph. It features my wife's dad as a boy; the only photo she's ever seen of him as a youngster. He was the youngest in the picture, the baker's apprentice. The photo itself is the old-school dots (halftone?). I imagine that I'm trying to improve the detail in some way but in reality there isn't much detail there to be saved.
The only thought I've had so far is to do a Levels adjustment on a new layer or and tweak the opacity to fine-tune the effect, or similarly tweak a Brightness & Contrast adjustment layer. Any other ideas? Gratefully received.
I had a bash, very basic.
Levels, drop more contrast, took it into camera raw filter and reduced highlights a tad.
Attempted noise reduction with define.
Straightened and a touch of dodging and burning in the appropriate places.
I would guess this is quite a specialist subject though, sorry I can't offer much else
Thanks. I think mine is possibly comparable. Perhaps with more tinkering I may be able to refine it a little, but I'm doubting there's much more to be done.
There are only black dots in varying densities so details will be difficult to extract. It's not as though it's a print or negatve with vaguely discernable features tha would respond to the usual tweaks you've tried.
The dots won't be 100% black so making then 0 on the histogram will look unnaturally dark, but tweaks to Levels and Curves should yield a punchier result. It might be worth looking at how dark (in terms of the grey value) of current newsprint to get an idea of how dark to take the 'black tones' here. Working on a 16 bit scan or photo of it should mean finer control of any adjustments.
There's no way of knowing how much has faded over the years or indeed if the original printing was darker so I think gettig something that looks slightly punchier and less washed out is the best you can get.
I may be ofver-thinking this. I'd be interested in anyone else's ideas.
The dots won't be 100% black so making then 0 on the histogram will look unnaturally dark, but tweaks to Levels and Curves should yield a punchier result. It might be worth looking at how dark (in terms of the grey value) of current newsprint to get an idea of how dark to take the 'black tones' here. Working on a 16 bit scan or photo of it should mean finer control of any adjustments.
There's no way of knowing how much has faded over the years or indeed if the original printing was darker so I think gettig something that looks slightly punchier and less washed out is the best you can get.
I may be ofver-thinking this. I'd be interested in anyone else's ideas.
Thank you as well. I appreciate your explanation although I'm not in the right frame of mind to absorb the technical aspects of it. Here's what I came up with, using a separate layer to adjust brightness & contrast. I'm just working from a 1200 x 1600 jpg sent by WhatsApp.
Before
After
Before
After
If you can get hold of the original newspaper cutting, using an Epson scanner and their Scan software in professional mode, there is a De-screening filter. The newspaper setting should significantly reduce the dot issue.
There is a British Newspaper Archive and it may be worth asking if they have the paper in question. If they do it would be a pristine copy.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
Your tweak has resulted in better density which I guess is as good as it'll get as in closest to how it once was which is fine.
If you can obtain the original cutting at some future point and scan it yourself or take a photo that's flat and squared up so much the better. Then get a print done.
If you can obtain the original cutting at some future point and scan it yourself or take a photo that's flat and squared up so much the better. Then get a print done.
Couldn't find it in the newspaper archive. It would have been one of two local local papers that printed it; we're now looking to find out which one so we can ask them for a copy, see if we can get a better file from them to use.
Thanks again, everyone!
Thanks again, everyone!
Is there a chance thy have original photos in their archive. That's if they haven't got rid of stuff due to cost cutting (though maybe in local library archives), if they had one in the first place.
It may cost a small amount to get a print but worth a try.
Just thinking of options.
It may cost a small amount to get a print but worth a try.
Just thinking of options.
Quote:Printing the tweaked image, then rescanning may improve it. The print could smooth out the dots and noise, and give you better tonal definition, which would be a better starting point once re-scanned.
Sounds counter-intuitive, but it does make sense! Thanks.
Or you can use the 'Blur' tool in PS to remove the dots. Best done selecting an area to 'blur' to avoid the edges and easier to get a sharper outline.
Chris that's fantastic! My wife and her sister are very impressed (and so am I!)
Thanks
Thanks
