TUTORIALS • Page 3 of 3
Repairing Discolored and Stained Photos In Adobe Photoshop 7
A sequel to "Reconstruction & Repair of Heavily Damaged Photos"
 By Karl Kizur
PROBLEM 5
Fig 12. Duplicate layer & boost brightness.
Fig 13. Left: shadow removed, right: shadow replaced
Too heavy shadows
Now, we will soften that intense shadow.It is often a good idea to flatten or merge your layers from the previous operations before starting on this one.
  1. Duplicate the background layer and apply to this the "Curves" from Image > Adjustments in a manner that allows you to see the border between the hair and wall. This layer is only a reference guide for your convenience and will be deleted.
  2. Duplicate the background once again.
  3. Turn off all the above layers. On the background layer clone the wall over the shadow, remove the shadow completely. You can use the guide layer to see more clearly the edges.
  4. Turn on the untouched duplicate layer which still has the shadow and set it's transparency to around 35% on the layer palette. The shadow is now "restored."
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PROBLEM 6
Using channels to remove spots & stains
Fig 14. Left: the damage to the red channel, right: smoothing it out with "Median".
The Channels palette, if you know how to use it, can be an excellent means of removing colored stains and grains. Here are some basics for a more advanced tool:
  1. View the individual color channels in the "Channels" palette.
  2. If one of the channels contains "dirt," make a duplicate layer. On this duplicate, select the problematic channels and apply the Median (in Noise) or Gaussian blur (in Blur) filter. (fig.14)
In this case I applied Median to the Red channel and a little bit of Gaussian blur to the Blue. You can also make specific alterations here with the patch, clone & brush tools.
  1. Return to RGB view and add a mask to the new layer. Invert the mask as explained earlier and use the brush to paint white into the mask over the areas that are of concern. (fig.15)
Fig 15. Before and after altering channels.
Finishing Touches
Extra Color & Sharpness
Now that we have finished repairing the damage on the photo, we can add a bit of extra enhancement. Play around with Photoshop's various color, brightness, contrast and sharpness adjustments until you get just the right look. (fig.16)Thus, the job is done, with full respect to the original details. I hope this tutorial will help you and Lonny to bring back the smile to those precious, yet problematic photos.
Fig 16. The final image.


Karl Kizur is an 18 years old artist and designer studying Bachelor of Pharmacy in Townsville, Australia. Web Site: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~kizur/karl/ Email: kizur@ozemail.com.au
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