he little girl in this picture is Monica Moss, now a grown woman. Robert Hightower – a friend of her mother’s – sent me this in the hope that I could restore it. It has just about everything wrong with it: there’s extensive damage to the baby's face and the background where the picture has been ripped and then repaired with adhesive tape. The glue from the tape has dried up and separated from the cellophane, leaving brown stains all over the image. The photo is also creased where it was folded so that the white photographic paper is showing through beneath the colour emulsion. The face of the little girl is cracked all over and will need to be repaired with patience, flair and precision. It’s a painstaking, repetitive job to copy and paste over and over again. Certain areas are so damaged that they will have to be re-created rather than retouched; we will have to guess what the original looked like. The bow of the dress is a very good example. To gather the bow, we copied the curve of the left hand side of the bow and pasted it under the baby's chin, then transformed it to fit the shape. As always, when retouching an image, the work you put into it is supposed to be invisible. Adjusting the colour and framing the image to hide the missing areas are the final touches. We must try and keep the tonal range of the background as near to the original as possible. Removing years of damage Another cherished photograph to be saved! Ed Davis takes one reader’s time-worn print and works a little creative magic on it. The results are astounding… YOUR GUIDE ED DAVIS Ed Davis is a corporate photographer with many years of studio and location experience. He specialises in image manipulation and creative solutions that combine photography and digital technology. He is a member of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) www.dcmag.co.uk/EdDavis 116 DIGI TALCAMERAMAGAZINE T CREATE RESTORE A PHOTO PORTFOLIO ED DAVIS WEBSITE WWW.ED-DAVIS-PHOTOGRAPHY.CO.UK TIPS GUIDE KEY DET AILS We combine elements from several photos NEXT MONTH SKILL LEVEL TIME TO COM PLET E HOURS 2 2 2 3 8 EXPERT TIP 0 LASSO TOOL When you are using the Lasso Tool and you come to the edge of the frame but need to go beyond it, press the Space Bar. The point of the Lasso Tool changes to a Hand Tool, enabling you to click and drag the image across. When you release the Space Bar it goes back to the Lasso tool. ED DAVIS PHOTOSHOP EXPERT 8 Photo is ripped, stained, and folded and the colours are dull BEFORE Vibrant colours, good tonal range, shadow detail adds depth to the image AFTER 01 ADHESIVE TAPE MARKS Solution: Retouch the photograph to remove the brown adhesive tape stains using the Healing brush and Clone tool. 02 MISSING AREAS Solution: Replace the parts of the image that have been lost through surface ‘flaking’ by using various Copy and Paste techniques. 03 DAMAGED BACKGROUND Solution: Remove the damaged background and replace with a new one. Also square up the photograph so the child looks upright.
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hope that I could restore it. It has just about everything
wrong with it: there’s extensive damage to the baby's
face and the background where the picture has been
ripped and then repaired with adhesive tape. The glue
from the tape has dried up and separated from the
cellophane, leaving brown stains all over the image.
The photo is also creased where it was folded so that
the white photographic paper is showing through
beneath the colour emulsion. The face of the little girl is
cracked all over and will need to be repaired with
patience, flair and precision.
It’s a painstaking, repetitive job to copy and paste
over and over again. Certain areas are so damaged that
they will have to be re-created rather than retouched;
we will have to guess what the original looked like. The
bow of the dress is a very good example. To gather the
bow, we copied the curve of the left hand side of the
bow and pasted it under the baby's chin, then
transformed it to fit the shape. As always, when
retouching an image, the work you put into it is
supposed to be invisible. Adjusting the colour and
framing the image to hide the missing areas are the
final touches. We must try and keep the tonal range of
the background as near to the original as possible.
Removing years of damageAnother cherished photograph to be saved! Ed Davis takes one reader’s time-worn print and works a littlecreative magic on it. The results are astounding…
YOUR GUIDE ED DAVISEd Davis is a corporate photographer with many years of studio and location experience. Hespecialises in image manipulation and creative solutions that combine photography and digitaltechnology. He is a member of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals)
www.dcmag.co.uk/EdDavis
116 DIGITALCAMERAMAGAZINE
T
CREATE RESTORE A PHOTO
PORTFOLIOED DAVIS WEBSITE WWW.ED-DAVIS-PHOTOGRAPHY.CO.UK
TIPS GUIDE
KEY DETAILS
We combine elements fromseveral photos
NEXTMONTH
SKILLLEVEL
TIMETO COMPLETEHOURS
2
2
2
3
8
EXPERT TIP0
LASSO TOOLWhen you are using the Lasso
Tool and you come to the edge of
the frame but need to go beyondit, press the Space Bar. The point
of the Lasso Tool changes to a
Hand Tool, enabling you to click
and drag the image across. When
you release the Space Bar it goesback to the Lasso tool.
ED DAVISPHOTOSHOP EXPERT
8
Photo is ripped, stained, and foldedand the colours are dullBEFORE Vibrant colours, good tonal range,
shadow detail adds depth to the imageAFTER
01ADHESIVE TAPE MARKSSolution:Retouch the photograph to remove the
brown adhesive tape stains using the Healing brush
and Clone tool.
02MISSING AREASSolution:Replace the parts of the image that have been
lost through surface ‘flaking’ by using various Copy and
Paste techniques.
03DAMAGED BACKGROUNDSolution:Remove the damaged background and replace
with a new one. Also square up the photograph so the