Recover old and damaged photos. Restoration and retouching of old photographs How to restore an old black and white photograph

Today we will be mastering the method of restoring old shabby photographs in Photoshop. There are many different examples on the Internet of how to do this. I want to bring to your attention the most, as it seems to me, simple and understandable. Of course, it is quite laborious and will take some time, but for beginners in Photoshop, it is ideal. You don't need a bunch of tools, different masks and layer blending modes that get confused in your head. All you need is the Stamp tool and your patience. In addition, during this lesson, beginners will make friends with this wonderful tool and will further use it in their work.

Let's start studying the lesson.

An old photograph has been lying around in my home archive for a long time, it's time to take it up.

First of all, go to the Image - Mode - RGB tab. If the mode is different, then put a tick on RGB.

Remove the lock from the layer. Double-click the left mouse button on the lock and select OK in the drop-down window.

To be on the safe side, let's copy the layer. Then we stand on the copy and enlarge the view. We start with the edges of the photo to practice on.

Take the Clone Stamp tool and check the settings. Since we are working in the very corner, do not be afraid to set the opacity and pressure to the maximum. We will stamp with a round brush, select its diameter in advance. Activate the Stamp tool, hold down the Alt key, a window appears on the screen as in the scope. We put it on the area that we want to copy, click with the mouse. Then release the Alt key, the sight disappears and move the circle to the place that we want to paint over, click the mouse. We see how a circle appeared on the damaged area. So let's practice at the corners. The more often we use the Alt key, the more carefully the required area will be painted over.

After practicing at the corners, we move on to another area, but we do not touch the face yet. Since the strip that needs to be masked is small, change the size of the brush - decrease the diameter. And again, aim at the area that you want to copy, hold down the Alt key, click the mouse, release the key, go to the area that you want to paint over, click the mouse.

Reduce the view periodically and look at what happens.

To compare, we extinguish the peephole on the copy layer we are working on. You can immediately see what is painted over and where.

In places in the area of ​​the eye, you need to greatly increase the image. Since it is already difficult to do this with the engine, we click on the right triangle. With its help, we enlarge the image a little.

We select targets for the sight both from the top of the seam and from the bottom of the seam. In such areas, it is especially important not to rush and aim more often and take areas for cloning.

When we clone the pupil, we decrease the hardness of the brush.

When cloning lips, take a sample from the lips.

When cloning the pupil, it is possible and necessary to take samples from different sides of the pupil.

Try to aim not very close to the area you want to paint over, so as not to get too much.

When we clone the stripes on the suit, we step from different sides to the scratch. Bow from below, then go to the top and clone from above. Then again we go to the bottom and so we paint over the area towards. To get a transition from a white stripe to a black background, try to take in the scope the area that is in the middle and includes both the white and black stripes. Adjust this with your brush diameter, you can change it more often.

With the final touch, paint over the white strip, just to paint over.

All the same, no matter how you paint over the background, it will not be even. Therefore, we are taking other measures. Use the Straight Lasso Tool to select the baby's shape.

Right-click inside the selection and select Feather.

We take a small radius of shading. Since the photo is old, we don't need very clear boundaries.

Copy the selection to a new layer. Apply for this the keys Ctrl + J.

Create a new layer by clicking on the second from the right icon in the layers panel and place it under the layer with the selected baby figure. We extinguish the eyes on the two lower layers.

Next go - Run Fill. To get where to take a color sample with an eyedropper, let's make the layer on which we worked with a Stamp visible (turn on the eye on it by clicking on it). Check that we are on a transparent layer.

Now use the Eyedropper tool to fill the layer with color.

We see that the background has become monochromatic. To diversify it a little, let's make it a little structural. Apply the Unlimited-2 filter, download it from here.

In the filter window, select the canvas.

Apply the Sharpening filter to the baby's image. Let's check that we are standing on the layer with the baby.

Extinguish the eyes on the two lower layers and on the Layers tab select - Merge Visible.

After that I saved the file in JPEG format, made a frame from the tutorial How to make a frame with ragged edges. I instructed the program to slightly correct the image. On the Image tab, I selected Auto Tone and Dynamic Contrast.

Now you can compare the result.

With this method, beginners may well undertake the restoration of old photos. As you can see, this method is very clear, the main thing is patience. We will succeed in everything!

Last week, my grandmother asked if I could restore an old, damaged photograph of my father, taken as a child. I said I would try, but I promise nothing. I knew that perhaps the level of damage in the photograph would be higher than my knowledge or technology at my disposal. After I received the photo in the mail, my worst expectations were met; it was not an easy task.

As you can see, the photo is so badly damaged that a large part of the face is missing. This usually happens when a wet photo dries up and sticks to another photo. I have compiled a list of tips for separating stuck together photos:

• Keep a close eye on those photographs for which you do not have negatives. Once a photo is wet or moldy, it will be nearly impossible to save it.
• Touch damp or stuck together photographs gently; the surface can be very fragile. Try not to touch the surface of the image.
• If you see that the state of old photographs begins to deteriorate, it is better to redo them while there is a possibility. Take new photos from old ones after absorbing moisture (see below for moisture absorption).
• Take your photos out of matte, glass or plastic frames as gently as possible without causing any major damage. Also, if the attached photo is in good condition, you can scan it with a frame, and send a digital copy for recovery.
• If you have stuck together photos, you can separate them in warm water, if the water becomes dirty, it needs to be changed. It will take you about an hour to loosen them.
• Wet photographs can be rinsed in clean water, if necessary, and sealed in a plastic container or plastic bag with a lock.
• A good way to preserve your photos is to place wax paper between the photos.
• If you have a freezer, freeze the photos. Later they can be thawed, separated and dried.
• If you do not have access to a freezer or refrigerator, rinse wet photographs in clean water and pat dry face up on a clean surface such as a table or towel.
• You can reduce the growth of mold in your photo by storing it in a dry and ventilated place. Open windows, turn on fans, air conditioners and moisture separators.
• Do not dry photos in direct sunlight.
• To prevent the photos from curling, you can add a weight in the corners of the photo.

If the photo is already damaged and you need to fix it, here are some tips and methods that I used. Remember that even if you have an artistic eye and know what the missing parts of the face will look like, always work with a copy, and not with the original.

What do you need

1. Good scanner. If you do not have it, scan the photo anywhere else.
2. Any version of Photoshop
3. It's not necessary, but I used a Photoshop plugin called Alien Skin Exposure.

Step one: scan

Make sure to scan your photo at the highest resolution possible. I recommend at least 300dpi. A high resolution is required due to the fact that you will use other parts of the image in the process of work, and at a low resolution, you may get unexpected results (do not forget that the resolution of the film is much higher, and you will have pixel losses. , pixel loss is not noticeable).

Make sure you remove dust and fingerprints from your photos. Dust should be removed prior to scanning using compressed air, a soft brush, or an optical grade cleaning cloth.

Step two: color grading

There are many ways to color correct in Photoshop. I mostly use Threshold, which can be created with an additional layer.

• To do this, create a duplicate layer with the photo, select the entire document (Ctrl + A), copy (Ctrl + C) and paste (Ctrl + V), then click on the small ying-yang icon at the bottom of the layers panel and select Threshold. The Threshold window will open and everything will turn black and white.
• Move the slider all the way to the left and slowly return it to its place. The first black pixels that appear in the image are the darkest portions of the photo. Once you see them, click OK.
• Increase these pixels, select the Color Sampler Tool (I), and place a marker in the center of these black pixels.
• After you have set the marker, you can get rid of the Threshold of the layer by moving it to the trash can icon in the layers panel, or by pressing Delete. The top layer will return to its previous appearance, and the marker will remain visible.
• Next, create a new Threshold layer and repeat the same steps, with the only difference that drag the slider to the right. This will indicate the lightest areas in the photo.
• Add one more marker and delete the Threshold layer. It's time for color grading.
• Click Image -> Adjustments -> Curve to open the Curves panel.
• In the Curves panel, select the black-tipped eyedropper and click on the first marker showing the darkest pixels. You may need to enlarge the images for more accurate work.
• Do the same for the lightest areas of the photo, but with a white-tipped eyedropper. These actions will identify black and light areas and help in color correction.

Step three: recovery

Select the Clone Stamp Tool (S) and change the mode from Normal to Darken. This will help clone pixels from one area to another, the blown out area. I used this tool to work with hair and face. For softer transitions, I used a soft brush of different sizes.

In my case, I focused on the face, because he was absent.

In this case, it is very important to have an artistic eye, because missing areas must be drawn as accurately as possible; for example, you need to redraw the right side of the mouth and lips. It is very lucky that the left side remained intact, and you can copy it, flip it horizontally, change the angle, and place it where it should be. Then use the Clone Stamp Tool to touch up the edges of the lips. Fixing the background in this case was not difficult; in addition, I decided to return the image to its original rectangle shape without the paper frame glued to the photo.

When cloning the missing areas with a soft brush, you will notice that they are more blurred than the rest of the image, because there is a lot of noise on it. To fix this I used Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise and checked the Monochrome checkbox. Next, I adjusted the intensity of the noise until I got a consistent result.

At this stage, I was very pleased with the work done, but, despite this, there were areas of skin color in which it looked unnatural. I used the Alien Skin Exposure plugin. With this plugin, I simulated a black and white photo and added sepia. To add sepia, you need to use the Sepia - Mid Band Split setting. I could not believe that I had coped with the restoration of this photo, because This is the first time I come across photographs damaged to such an extent.

Step four: print

We have reached the simplest stage in the work, it remains only to print the restored photo. Good luck to everyone!

Everyone in the archive now has photographs of relatives who may have even passed away. And these photographs are perhaps the only memory that I would like to preserve. Photos were rare then (not like now!), And they are truly unique.
Knowing how to repair an old shabby or torn photo can be useful to everyone.
The material is presented in the form of lessons, painted in steps and their results - restored photographs. This is mainly presented in three lessons: correcting color photographs, retouching defects in black and white photos, and coloring black and white photographs.
Of course, these are not strict instructions. Each photo is individual and requires different tools, but I tried to collect the basic tools of Photoshop. They would allow a person who started working with this program and already knows the main points, techniques and tools for work, learn how to restore photographs and be useful.
Usually, when stored for a long time, films and photographs deteriorate, fade, scratches appear, and if handled carelessly, they deteriorate. But all the same, we do not throw them away, since these are grains of memory, of the past. And a person without a past cannot clearly see the future. Scanning (digitizing) allows you to increase their shelf life indefinitely, but restoration will help to bring the image quality closer to the original.

There are several important points that you should never forget. Since the process is creative - no one limits you to just these steps - search, try, explore. The list of these steps looks something like this:
1. For work, create a copy of the original image
2. Set the required resolution for the photo and crop it to the required size - so as not to waste time on those areas that you will have to crop later.
3. Retouch / restore image areas
4. Remove noise from the image.
5. Align the areas of light and shadow (in color photos you will also need to restore the original skin color)
6. Correcting the brightness and contrast of the image.
7. Adding sharpness

When working, remember that a person's face is not symmetrical. And you cannot copy one eye instead of the other. And that these are not abstract people, but faces that are dear to us.
But remember that this is not an easy job for 5 minutes. This work requires precision, meticulousness, skill, knowledge and, most importantly, patience.

Part 1. Restoration and retouching of color photographs.

Albums often contain color photographs taken with a "soap dish" and printed for a long time. Often these are photos of small sizes or immediately taken in poor lighting conditions, maybe a little overexposed. Time passes, photographs lose their attractiveness, change color, deteriorate. And, looking at these photos, I want to return them to their former attractiveness or improve.
In this tutorial, we'll look at a few examples of what you can do with old color photography.

So, first, you need to scan this photo.
Secondly, open it in Photoshop. Create a duplicate of the layer right away, as in the process of work something may not work out and you can always start over. And also, having the original version of the photo, it is very interesting to compare the original with the received one.

1 example. Photo of friends measuring 9 x 13 cm.
The photo is small, but they would like to make it bigger

The photo was scanned. Opened in Photoshop. File - open.
In the layers window, create a duplicate layer.
Leave the duplicate layer visible, and hide the background by clicking on the eye in the layer window.
Now let's use Curves to improve the color: Image - Correction - Curves. A window will open where there are three pipettes. With the first eyedropper selected, click on the blackest color in the photo, with the third eyedropper you need to click on the whitest color of the photo, and the middle eyedropper on the gray color. Click Yes.

The colors are brighter and the image is improved.
But that's not all. There are small white specks left on the hair, which can be removed using the Spot Healing Brush tool. This tool allows you to replace the area where we clicked with a neighboring close color. To do this, select this tool and select the desired brush diameter, which is slightly larger than the small dots on the hair and left-click on them. You can also correct minor irregularities in your skin and clothing. Now the photo is a bit cleaner.
The photo contains a lot of white space around the edges. You can remake it into a vertical one by cutting off unnecessary parts. To do this, take the Crop tool. And select the desired part, then press Enter. Photos are cropped to the selected area.
To create a truly studio-like portrait photo, it is a good idea to replace the background. To do this, erase the existing background with the Eraser tool. You need to work carefully so as not to damage the main characters themselves. In the process, change the diameter of the eraser brush and its hardness on the additional panel.
Now you need to create a new layer for the background: Layer - New - Layer. And place it behind the photo layer. On it we will create a background using the Gradient Tool.
Select the gradient you like and fill an empty layer. You can also take any picture with a suitable landscape or another ready-made picture with a background and put it behind the layer with the photo.
We left the gradient fill.

So here's the result.

2 example. Photo of the Zenith factory of old times.
We found this photo on the Internet. On the website www. Uralsk.info. The photo has scratches and in general the quality of the photo is not very good. I would like to make it better.

Open the photo in Photoshop. Duplicate the layer right away.
Initially, we wanted to remove the scratches. For this we will use two tools:

Stamp and Patch.

The stamp allows you to draw in any area with another selected area. For example, there is a clean piece of the sky and the same one, but with a crack. First, select the tool, hold down the ALT key and click on a clean piece, then without Alt on a piece with a crack. You will paint over the crack.

The Patch tool works like this. Select this tool, select an area with defects with it, then transfer it to a clean fragment. The fragment with the defect will be painted over with a clean piece, but in accordance with the tone (darker or lighter) as on the one we are correcting.
Using one or the other tool in turn, whichever is more convenient for you, we remove all scratches and cracks in the photo.
After that, you need to slightly correct the colors in the photo. First let's add contrast: Image - Correction - Brightness / Contrast. A window will open where we increase the contrast by about 45 points. Please note that the Use Legacy checkbox is checked. This makes the colors brighter.

Basically, that's all!

These photos are also processed:

The photo has faded over time and turned yellow around the edges. Using Curves, Brightness / Contrast restored the colors. With the help of a stamp and a patch, we processed the skin, background and hair to remove small and not very stains.

The photo lost its brightness over time and spots appeared. Using Curves, Brightness / Contrast improved the color of the photo. With the help of a stamp, the irregularities were corrected and the stains removed. We also used the menu: Filter - Noise - Retouch. Then the photo was not so grainy.

Part 2. Restoration and retouching of black and white photographs.

Nowadays black and white photographs are taken only in studios and that is on purpose. And if you delve into the old albums of our parents and grandparents, you can find many such photos. Moreover, many are stored simply in packs, not in albums. Traces of time, cracks, spots, creases are very visible on them. Such photos are unique, there is nowhere else to take them and it is pleasant to restore what was lost. Surely every family has such photos.
We wanted to show that they can be restored too.

Example 1. Photo of the war years.

Having rummaged through the albums of relatives, we found a photograph of the war years, which was pretty much spoiled by time. Besides, it is very small, about 10 x 8 cm. We scanned it. And they decided to fix it.

First, we opened it in Photoshop. And we immediately created a duplicate of the layer so that we could have something to compare with and so that, if it didn’t work out, then we could quickly return to the beginning. Also, when working with black and white photos, we recommend that you periodically save your work. And don't be afraid to create unnecessary duplicate layers. This is a very long job and a rather small one. We work on a large scale by zooming in on the image. And we use tools with small diameter brushes to make the work more accurate.
After creating a duplicate layer, we tried to remove all the spots from the photo using the Stamp and Patch tools, it takes a long time and many of the same actions. Get ready for your hand to get tired.
You may not need to restore the edges of the photo, as it is easier to crop them and then create a normal frame. We worked first with the background, then with clothes, and then moved on to the faces.

After that we decided to remove the yellowness from the photo. The colors are not restored here, as in color photos, but they also change quite quickly using Curves. We remind you: Image - Correction - Curves. The first pipette clicks on the blackest color, the third pipette - on the whitest. And with a medium pipette - on gray. Moreover, you will see the result immediately, and if it does not suit you, then you can immediately click in another place without leaving the window. If everything suits you, click "Yes". We also used the Filter - Noise - Retouch command to remove graininess in the photo.
The edges of our photo are pretty jagged. So we cut them off. Select the center part of the photo with an oval selection. Selection - Inversion. Then the edges will be selected. Press Delete on your keyboard. The edges are removed. Only the oval with the center of the photo will remain. We darkened the places of the background where it is too light using the Burn tool.

To prevent the edges from being blank, we will create a border. To do this, create a new layer. Layer - New - Layer. Place it under the photo layer and fill it with a radial black and white gradient.
And to make the photo more expressive, we make the eyes stand out and give them sharpness. Filter - Sharpness.
The background in the photo is too different. We have created a new layer. We took a regular black brush and painted over the layer. It's not scary if the desired part is painted over or we go over the edges. We are on a different layer, then erased the excess with an eraser. Now applied Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur.
So, our work is over on this. It's not ideal, but it's gotten much better.

Example 2.
Photo processed according to example 1. The principle of work is the same.

Part 3. Coloring of black and white photographs.

Example 1. Baby photo.
Sometimes you want to color in a black and white photo. Of course, it is desirable that the photo is of good quality. Then the result will be better.

The quality is ok, but the edges are better cut off.
When coloring, you can ask the owner of the photo about the real old colors that were there, but you can act on the mind.
First, create a duplicate of the layer, after that remove all bumps, spots and scratches. And we align the colors of the original photo using the commands of the Image menu: Curves, Brightness / Contrast.

Now you need to start the actual coloring. Here we will place each color on a new layer so that they do not interfere with each other and do not mix. Let's start with the face. Create a new layer. Call his face. The color can be taken either from another color photograph of a person or pick up in the color palette. So, take the Brush tool, at the bottom in the tool window, click on the foreground color. A window with a palette of shades will open, try to choose a color close to the skin color. Set the brush diameter convenient for you and paint over the face.
In the Layers window change the blending mode to Saturation or Overlay or Chroma. Try with different options. We used Saturation. You can also change Opacity and Fill here (in the Layers window). Do not forget to erase the extra edges and color on the eyes with an eraser, they cannot be skin color.

Play around with different options. Next, on a new layer, paint over the next section of the photo.
The collar was painted over, the blending mode in the layers window was set to Soft light. You can also go to the menu Image - Correction - Hue / Saturation. A window will open where you can achieve the desired hue by dragging the sliders in the Hue and Saturation fields.
On a new layer, paint over the coat with a reddish color, set the blending mode to Multiply. With the help of Saturation / Hue, we have selected the desired hue.

On a new layer, painted over the scarf with a pinkish tint, set the blending mode to Linear Dimmer. On the same layer, we painted over mittens, since parts of the photo do not interfere with each other.
On a new layer, we painted over the shoes and tights with the same color. The blending mode is set to Overlay.
On a new layer, painted over the seat of the chair in green, and the back of the chair in brown, set the blending mode to Overlay.
The background is painted in blue, the blending mode is Overlay. Do not forget to erase the edges of the flowers with an eraser if they suddenly overlap each other, as this edge can have completely unexpected shades.
The colors don't look very natural. To fix this, create an adjustment layer: Layer - New Adjustment Layer - Color Balance. This layer will be positioned above all layers, so its work will affect all layers and all colors.
The result of our work.

These photos are processed according to the same principle.

Printed photographs are fragile reminders of important moments and events of the past. Often there are only one copy of old photographs, so damage in a photograph can greatly sadden the owner. Paper is exposed to moisture, water, sunlight and dust for years. Sometimes, if stored improperly, even new images may appear in an inappropriate form. Learn the basic ways to recover your photos, learn how to do these things at home, and start storing your photos properly to preserve memory for generations to come.

Steps

Digital restoration of minor damage

Use the correct equipment. To recover photos at home, you need a quality scanner and image editing software for your computer. For example, you can purchase a photo editor like Photoshop and a scanner that allows you to scan a photo in high resolution, which is measured in dots per square inch. The higher the resolution, the more detailed the scanned image will be. In most cases, a resolution of 300 dpi is recommended.

Scan your photo. Gently place your photo in the scanner and select a high resolution scan to capture every detail of your photo. Subsequently save the finished image in TIFF format instead of JPEG. The TIFF format will increase the file size, but will provide high detail and quality of the image. Save the image and open it in a photo editor.

Crop the image. Use an appropriate tool to remove signs of damage from the edges of the photo. The edges of old photographs are often deformed by high humidity or contact with water. If the damage is located around the perimeter of the photo, then cropping can help quickly solve the problem.

Remove scratches and dust marks. The Dust & Scratches filter or the Spot Healing Brush tool in Photoshop, or similar tools in other photo editors, greatly simplify the process of removing imperfections. Zoom in and use the mouse cursor to remove the traces of damage. Take your time and zoom out periodically to control the result. The filter will also remove some of the detail, so don't overdo it.

• Open a new tab with a photo of the full size of the window to see the changes.

1. Restore tears and missing fragments. If the photo has tears, cuts or missing fragments, then use the Clone Stamp tool to recreate parts of the image and damaged areas. Select a tool and select the part of the photo where you want to copy or use the information with a click of the mouse. Move the cursor to the area that you want to restore with the copied material.

   Print the image. After restoration, print the photo using an inkjet or special photo printer on glossy photo paper.

   Secure the tears with acid-free duct tape. Fix the torn or repair the torn photo with acid-free adhesive tape. Ordinary tape or duct tape contains an acidic adhesive that can damage your photo over time. Buy archival duct tape or tape with acrylic adhesive from your office supply or specialty store. Cut off small strips of tape and secure the tears on the back of the image.

   Use patch tape. A torn photograph can be repaired with acid-free paper and glue tape. Patch tape is sold at art stores or office supply stores. Apply a small amount of glue to a strip of paper and press down at the tear on the back of the photo. Collect any excess glue with a cotton swab. Leave the photo to dry on a towel, face down, and press down with a small book to keep the edges from warping.

2. Create a humidification chamber for photos with warped edges. If old photos are curled or deformed around the edges, then a homemade humidification camera will help to solve the problem. The camera allows you to saturate dry, fragile photographs with moisture so that the paper opens and straightens around the edges.

   • Fill a plastic storage container with room temperature water 5–7 centimeters high. Place a wire rack in the container and make sure the top is not submerged. Place the photo on top of the wire rack and put the lid on the camera. Leave it on for a few hours. Inspect the photo periodically and wipe off any water droplets on the paper. When the edges are straightened, remove the photo and leave to dry on a towel, face up. Cover the photo with absorbent paper or parchment and press down with a book.

In this tutorial, you will learn one of the ways to restore old photographs.

Before proceeding with the restoration, it is necessary to draw up an approximate work plan in order to do everything consistently and not rush from one to another. The following sequence of actions is recommended:

1 ... Only work with a copy of the scanned image.
2. Crop the image. Be careful not to touch on important details.
3. Determine the main problem areas for retouching, perform the necessary operations. This is the longest and most laborious stage.
4. We remove noise and other unwanted plaque. Do not try to remove all the grain of the film and take a semblance of a digital photograph! After all, during restoration it is important to preserve the spirit of that time.
5. We adjust brightness, contrast, saturation. In color photographs, we adjust the color balance, especially pay attention to the correct skin color.
6. Sharpening the image.

So let's get down to the process. Here's our original photo.

Step 1. The restoration is usually started by correcting relatively large areas. The best way to do this is to use the tool Patch(Patch tool). The figures show an approximate sequence of actions. Large areas in the background are corrected first, then smaller ones.

Step 2. After retouching large defects, let's move on to small ones. For this we use tools Healing Brush(Healing Brush), Spot Healing Brush(Spot Healing Brush) and Stamp(Clone Stamp). Feel free to experiment with these tools.

Tool Point restoring It is advisable to use a brush to remove only very small point defects. For larger areas, it is better to use a regular Healing Brush and Stamp.

The screenshot below shows the areas in which the specified tools were used: in red - Healing Brush, green - Stamp... I would like to draw your attention to the fact that when working with the Patch and Healing Brush tools, there are unwanted effects when working on the edges of the image, especially if they are white. To avoid this, first simply paint over these areas with the closest color with a brush, and then work with the restoration tools.

Here's what you should get at this stage.

Step 3. Now we will work with more serious damage. To reconstruct the image of the man's left eye, we use the image of his right eye. An extreme case is specially taken here. If there are other photographs of this person, then it is better to take the missing parts of the image from them, so it will be more correct.

So, select the area around the right eye and copy it to a new layer by clicking CTRL +J... Next, click CTRL +T to apply a free transform.

Step 4. Right-click inside the frame and select Flip horizontally(Flip Horizontal).

Step 5. In order to properly place the reflected copy of the eye, decrease the opacity of the layer and align the eye relative to the original image. Then press ENTER and return the Opacity to 100%.

Step 6. Add a layer mask by clicking on the icon marked with a green circle at the bottom of the layers palette.

Step 7. Press D to reset colors, then select a tool Brush(Brush). Mask off the extra areas with a black brush. Remember that white reveals and black hides. Use a brush with soft edges for soft, inconspicuous transitions.

Tip: Hold your finger over the X key to quickly switch between black and white. If you hide the excess somewhere, paint over this area with white. If you want to see only the mask, click on its thumbnail in the layers palette while holding ALT.

Step 8. Now we restore the image of the left ear in the same way. To fine-tune the shape, use the tool Deformation(Warp).

A small area of ​​the hairline on the left side of the face is also restored. Let me remind you that each operation must be performed on a new layer. This should become the main rule of work.

Step 9. After recovering all large areas, let's go back to the tool Stamp and fix all the shortcomings. You need to do this on a new transparent layer by checking the box Sample of all layers.

You can merge layers if needed.

Here's what you should get.

Step 10. Select all layers. Combine the layers into a group by clicking CTRL +G... Then create a new layer above this group by clicking ATL +SHIFT +CTRL +E, and call it Noise.

Step 11. Now we reduce the noise using the filter " Reduce noise "(Reduce noise).
An important point: the greatest suppression of noise should be done in the blue channel, since it contains the largest amount of it. Preservation of details for this channel should preferably be set to 0%.

Step 12. After suppressing noise, you need to restore the sharpness of the image. There are many different ways to do this, including several tutorials on our website:

This tutorial uses the filter sharpening method. Colour contrast(High Pass), but personally I prefer the mask method as it is the most manageable. I will not dwell on the sharpening technique, those who wish can familiarize themselves with them from the above lessons. I would like to add that if you plan to print a recovered photo, you should sharpen the image a little more, as printers will blur the image slightly. This is a pretty important point.

Step 13. It is often necessary to sharpen only in certain areas. To do this, you need to create a layer mask, as we already did, and paint over the unnecessary areas.

Step 14. Create a new adjustment layer Curves... Let's give the curve an S-shape to increase the contrast.

Step 15... Now let's compare the results.