How to repair an old photograph?

[Amy K]

I have an old photograph of my grandad and his sisters. Will I be able to repair it myself digitally or will I need a "professional"?

The photo is below.

[Amy K]

 

Oh Dear, sorry.

 I didn't mean to make it that big!!!

[Nicky]

Hi
I had a photo repaired but professionally in the USA but since having mine done I came across this site in the UK

http://www.jigrah.co.uk/

Nicky

[Steve Ley]

Hi Amy, If you aren't in any rush for a perfect copy it is very simple to do it yourself. Make sure you work on a copy then it will not matter if you make a mistake.  
I have done it on a creased and torn photo and was very pleased it with it.
One tip i have is to enlarge the area you are going to work on untill it is very pixalated and you will find matching colours much easier.

Steve.

[PaulineJ]

I'd agree that you should do-it-yourself. Start with the faces; and as Steve says enlarge it so that it looks 'blocky'; It makes it easier to pick the 'right' tone and position out. Clothing and whatever can usually be well-disguised by smudging the creases.

The small print of most repair companies seem to that faces are too difficult (ie time-consuming) to do well. Be sure to show us the results.

Pauline

[Spotty]

Sit tight my hubby is going to repair it for you. 

[Spotty]

How is this for a first attemp?

He said he will carry on with it tomorrow to remove some of the blemishes.

[Amy K]

Wow, That is brilliant!!

Can he tell us how he did it??? So we can do others for ourselves? Which program did he use, for example?

[Steve Ley]

Hi Amy, The programme i use is Adobe Photoshop Elemnts. As well as repairing photo's you can also alter the photo to look like a watercolour, etching etc. You can change the colour of peoples clothes. But best of all is you can take different people from photo's and put them into one so you can actually be seen in the same photograph as your GGG Granparents. 
Just mess about and experiment and you will soon get the hang of it.

Steve.