Repairing Water Damaged Photos
How do you fix a water-damaged photo? Try using my technique if you have a high-quality scanner and Adobe PhotoShop.
First, scan the image and put it into Adobe PhotoShop 7.0. Then go to the layers panel and duplicate the background image layer. Try to replicate the basic tones, colors and contrast as close to the original as possible. Once you have that done, then you can work on the water spots and other problems.
At this point save the file as a new version so you can retrieve it if necessary. Magnify the water-damaged portion and look for an area that is close enough to clone the undamaged area to the trouble spot.
Then comes the art and what takes the time. Change the size of your pixel to find areas that will help fix that spot. However, be careful that you don’t make the pixels all the same size or the photo will turn out like an Impressionist painting.
Copying and pasting similar areas can also save you a lot of time. Once you have used the clone tool and the History-Brush, you may have a repaired photo.
If you want to fix the original photo, take a look at the following web sites for assistance:
- http://rlpg.com/graphicx/waterdamaged.htm
- http://udesignimageworks.com/WaterDamagePhotoRestoration.htm
Photo restoring is not a task to take lightly. One major problem is molds, many of which are toxic. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (www.fema.gov) has guidelines on how to take care of photos that have been water damaged by floods.
John Kendall professionally restores photographs using computer software. He also creates unique black-and-white pencil portraits.For further information, email him at kendalljohn@comcast.net or call (541)231-7528.
