Whether you are a web designer, graphic designer, professional or amateur photographer, Photoshop is the best go-to-tool for professionally retouching images, especially when you are dealing with old photographs that are torn or damaged. Photoshop is the ideal panacea for giving a refreshed and vibrant look to old and dull pictures. This is because Photoshop has numerous tools that enable you to remove dust, stains, and creases, add color to black and white photographs, repair black and white faded photos etc.
Coloring an Old, Black and White Photo
This is one of the best retouching techniques in Photoshop. While converting old black and white photos into color, it is important that the RGB mode is selected while scanning and saving the image. Colors can be added to the entire picture or just to one object in the image. Once you select the area to be colored by clicking on “Selected Areas”, simply choose the Paintbrush form the toolbar and start coloring the image in the “Quick Mask Mode”. By creating a new adjustment layer you can save the colored image in the normal mode.
Removing Dusts & Scratches from Old Photos
Many of our old pictures often have numerous scratches and dust stains on them. Photoshop tools help in removing these efficiently. Once the picture is scanned, create a new layer to work on the touch ups. Then choose the “Filter-Noise-Dust & Scratches” tool to adjust the level accordingly. It is important to keep in mind that the settings are kept low so as to not lose too much detail while retouching the old image. The speckles can be removed by choosing “Filter-Noise-Reduce-Noise” tool. This will help to sharpen the image and give a brighter look.
Repairing Discolored Photos
Photoshop can be used to retouch images that are discolored by using the Clone tool. This tool is very effective for retouching large areas that need repair. The clone tool should be placed right above the spot that needs retouching. A sample color can be picked up from nearby source by pressing the Alt key and clicking on the color. Then it must be move to the spot that needs repair and left clicked. The new patch will be placed seamlessly and will blend in perfectly with the rest of the image.
Photoshop is one of the most efficient and easy-to-use photo retouching software that can be used by all digital artists and amateurs to get professional results!
