Evaluate My Photo

[MrSquigle]

I sat up late last night scanning some old print pics that I eventually want to get all stored electronically.

I would be interested in the thoughts of this photo that I scanned and then retouched for about an hour as it was seriously damaged with scrathes and other damage.

This is my first attempt to do this and found some useful tools in 'Paint'...I am sure I will find many more when I eventually get some useful software. I used the magnifying tool to basically go in and replace all the pixels damaged sometimes one by one. Took an hour to do this one.

[The Vulcan]

Perhaps if you submitted the original scratched and battered print, as a comparison, we could comment more.

It's difficult to appraise the finished product in the absence of the original

[MrSquigle]

I realised that after posting it, but had altered the original I saved and could not be bothered to scan it again last night.

Having scanned it just now it does not look so bad...until you blow it up and see all the small marks and scratches.

[NordicMan]

I realised that after posting it, but had altered the original I saved and could not be bothered to scan it again last night.

Having scanned it just now it does not look so bad...until you blow it up and see all the small marks and scratches.

This is easy to fix in Photoshop. A million times easier than using Paint.

Use "Clone Stamp", "Healing Brush" or "Spot Healing" for this.

As long as the area is relatively non-complex (such as in this photo), it is incredibly easy.

For spots, just choose spot healing, size the brush so it covers the spot, and click... bob's your uncle. select proximity match or texture depending on whether the area is plain coloured (sky) or textured (ocean).

The only slightly more complicated areas are where there are very fine details near the scratches, such as the rigging of the boats. Clone stamp comes handy here.

Use healing brush for scratches where you need to copy in texture from areas not immediately next to the scratch. easy peasy.

You could consider buying photoshop just for the sake of this feature, given that you now will have lots of photos to touch up.

You could buy the previous version, CS2, instead of the latest CS3.

I suggest that if your photos are very scratched, you may scan them at an even higher resolution. perhaps around 3000x2400pixel. (that's 8x10inches @ 300dpi). it's easier to remove the scratches then. You can resize it down afterwards if you like to save disk space.

cheers

nm

[MrSquigle]

Excellent advice and I may call into fortune today and see what photoshop stuff they have.

Thanks.