How to restore faded photos? - Printable Version

How to restore faded photos? - Printable Version

+- Gimp-Forum.net (https://www.gimp-forum.net)
+-- Forum: GIMP (https://www.gimp-forum.net/Forum-GIMP)
+--- Forum: General questions (https://www.gimp-forum.net/Forum-General-questions)
+--- Thread: How to restore faded photos? (/Thread-How-to-restore-faded-photos)

Pages: 1 2

RE: How to restore faded photos? - PixLab - 06-21-2022

(06-21-2022, 11:47 AM)Stephen Liu Wrote: It is very strange I can't reply PixLab post #5 above? I have tried it yesterday with the same result.

Hi PixLab

Why the screen of my GIMP looks different to yours? Pls refers to attached photo;
screen.png

Pls advise how to reset my GIMP? Thanks

Just tried online service to restore faded photos. Pls refers to attached photo;
wm_repair_p01_30.jpg

Their photo looks similar to my work here;
Colors -> Auto -> White Balance

Pls refers to attached photo;
p01_30_white_balance.jpg

Regards

I cannot see any of your picture, thus no references, you did put the file/picture's name, but no link to it, just for example your first one you wrote "screen.png", but not linked, you need to upload it somewhere for me to be able to see what you are speaking about Wink

You don't need to "reset" GIMP, my screenshots looks different because I customize GIMP my way, I like my tabs this way, my tools this way, GIMP is highly customizable, as a matter of fact I think GIMP might be one of the most customizable software other there, if not the most customizable of all, no coding needed, all with the GUI easy peasy in just few minutes (this might be another topic, or why not a tuto one day...) Wink

RE: How to restore faded photos? - Stephen Liu - 06-21-2022

(06-21-2022, 12:05 PM)rich2005 Wrote:
Quote:...Yes, I have large photo but I'm not allowed to upload it here.

What is the max file size allowed?

The details are in the forum help section https://www.gimp-forum.net/misc.php?action=help&hid=11 but I will post for your information

No more than 5 attachments per post

Most image file types are allowed, including of course XCF and its derivatives (XCFGZ, etc...)

There is a 500KB limit on the size of "flat" formats: PNG/JPG/GIF

There is a 2MB limit on the size of XCF and derivatives. Compressed XCF (XCFGZ, etc...) are usually about a third of the size of the equivalent XCF, so you can in effect post the equivalent of a 6MB XCF.

Zip and 7z files are allowed, up to 1MB.

The forum displays directly images that fit in a 600W by 800H rectangle. Those that are bigger are resized to these dimensions, and users have to click on them to see them at the original size.

Thanks for your advice.

Bigger photos are attached here.

p01_60.jpg is reduced to 60% of its original photo
p02_55.jpg is reduced to 55% of its original photo

Regards

(06-21-2022, 01:02 PM)sallyanne Wrote: Looks like the AI didn't do a very good job on your photo. (So what's new) Where the white is on the right side your photo is almost destroyed. Crop your large photo to where you would like it and upload it.

That was fully automatic. I just upload the photo to their website. The photo was edited automatically online and after finished asking me to download the edited photo.

RE: How to restore faded photos? - Stephen Liu - 06-21-2022

I can't understand why some photos fading in color. Other photos with quality remain intact.

Attached here are 2 photos captured by me in Munich, Germany (in German; München, Deutschland) long time ago. They are stored in the same place and in same packing.

Regards

Remark: The photos attached to my posting are scanned on Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone which is remotely controlled on Ubuntu 20.04 PC. The capture is activated on the PC screen with the mouse pointer.

RE: How to restore faded photos? - rich2005 - 06-21-2022

Dear Stephen. I hope you realise that some photographs are not recoverable even by AI. Treasure them as they are.

I once had a girlfriend who took the worst photographs imaginable. Top of heads cut off, people leaning at 30⁰, over-exposed, under-exposed. It did not matter she said. "It is the memory they bring back"

This one is more "artistic" than anything else. You could spend a long time on it for very little benefit.

[attachment=8159]

RE: How to restore faded photos? - Stephen Liu - 06-22-2022

(06-21-2022, 08:30 PM)rich2005 Wrote: Dear Stephen. I hope you realise that some photographs are not recoverable even by AI. Treasure them as they are.

I once had a girlfriend who took the worst photographs imaginable. Top of heads cut off, people leaning at 30⁰, over-exposed, under-exposed. It did not matter she said. "It is the memory they bring back"

This one is more "artistic" than anything else. You could spend a long time on it for very little benefit.

Hi rich,

Thanks for your help. Could you please inform me how to get your result in brief?

Yes, it is true. I can spend hours and hours on faded photos. I suppose the best solution for me is to scan their film negatives but still I have to spend time searching on >1,000 negatives. I'll put all faded negatives on one side first.

Fortunately the scanning method using a smartphone saves me a lot of time.

Regards

RE: How to restore faded photos? - rich2005 - 06-22-2022

(06-22-2022, 01:59 AM)Stephen Liu Wrote: Thanks for your help. Could you please inform me how to get your result in brief?

There is no one way for images like this, indoors, inadequate lighting, areas in the photo that are degraded beyond fix.

I think an auto-white-balance gives too harsh a result. An alternative is colour select from a dark area (dark brown) put a layer of this colour over the photo Put the layer mode as Subtract.
That gets an improved image but then it comes down to hands-on editing.
Separate the background and try to improve the contrast. Use the dodge-burn tool sparingly. The same with the foreground.
There is a big black shadow area under the infant. This is horribly degraded. I replaced with a manufactured pattern. (Needs a bit more work on the deformations but no more spare time )
Had an overall look again, some painting in with the warp tool / clone tool / smudge tool / dodge-burn tool.

It becomes an artistic exercise. Not going into more detail other than that.

RE: How to restore faded photos? - denzjos - 06-22-2022

I tried every software I have on my computer, but no result satisfied. So I thought the best solution for this kind of photos is to convert them to black and white or a light brown color (I see Rich think the same direction). A fast conversion corrected with curves :
[attachment=8169]
Light brown :
[attachment=8170]

RE: How to restore faded photos? - Stephen Liu - 06-22-2022

(06-22-2022, 08:26 AM)rich2005 Wrote:
(06-22-2022, 01:59 AM)Stephen Liu Wrote: Thanks for your help. Could you please inform me how to get your result in brief?

There is no one way for images like this, indoors, inadequate lighting, areas in the photo that are degraded beyond fix.

I think an auto-white-balance gives too harsh a result. An alternative is colour select from a dark area (dark brown) put a layer of this colour over the photo Put the layer mode as Subtract.
That gets an improved image but then it comes down to hands-on editing.
Separate the background and try to improve the contrast. Use the dodge-burn tool sparingly. The same with the foreground.
There is a big black shadow area under the infant. This is horribly degraded. I replaced with a manufactured pattern. (Needs a bit more work on the deformations but no more spare time )
Had an overall look again, some painting in with the warp tool / clone tool / smudge tool / dodge-burn tool.

It becomes an artistic exercise. Not going into more detail other than that.

Thanks for your help.

The steps would be too complicate to me. I'll leave it for the time being until I find its film negative.

I put aside of all photos with serious faded color. Until I have finished scanning all photos then I'll search all film negatives to find their negatives.

Regards