Photoshop Insider Training: Photo Restoration

Learn how to restore damaged photos from the Photoshop senior product manager.

Repair prized photos with these insights from Adobe Photoshop Senior Product Manager Bryan O'Neil Hughes. First, learn how to convert your prints to digital files and leverage the power of Adobe Camera Raw to streamline the import process. Next, discover how to lay the groundwork for the restoration process with cropping, basic color and tone correction, and sharpening. Then see how to correct more serious damage such as scratches, rips, and staining, and how to enhance an image with borders and creative color. As a bonus, Bryan shares some rather unconventional but smart tips for getting the best results in Photoshop.

Introduction

• Welcome
• The importance of preserving our visual memories
• Using the exercise files

1. Best Practices for Photo Restoration

• Scanning and bit depth advice
• Photographing images as an alternative to scanning
• Leveraging Camera Raw during the import process
• Using Camera Raw for initial tonal adjustments
• Developing a versioning strategy
• Archiving your images using the PSD, TIFF, and PDF file formats

2. Preparing for the Restoration Process

• Correcting tone and color globally and locally
• Saving time with cropping
• Sharpening selectively during restoration
• Blurring selectively for efficiency and composition

3. Fixing Serious Damage

• Removing dust and scratches
• Fixing rips and creases
• Repairing missing pieces or torn corners
• Dealing with stains and water damage
• Recovering lost detail

4. Finishing Touches

• Creating and re-creating frames and borders
• Colorizing a photo
• Using Content-Aware Scale to adjust image proportions

5. Unconventional Tips

• Re-creating missing pieces by mirroring
• Borrowing content from within the same photo
• Degrading the image for realism
• Dealing with warping or missing fragments

Conclusion

• Next steps