Before and After

My friend Andrea loves this print and asked me if I could do something to brighten it up because it had faded over time. Her husband really dislikes the picture and I have to admit that I’m not that crazy about it myself. But Andrea is a sentimental soul. It used to hang in her parents’ front hall, and now she has it in hers.
At first I wasn’t sure whether or not I could do anything with the print in Photoshop. Not only was it faded, but it also had water damage and a greenish cast. Because of the size, I had to scan it in sections and then piece them together. After that, it wasn’t that difficult to fix up.
To correct the damaged areas, I used the Clone and Spot Healing Tools. To enhance the color, I used Hue/Saturation, and gave the print more light with Levels and Brightness/Contrast. To remove the greenish cast, I played with the Color Balance, and then finally applied Curves.
There’s something satisfying about giving an old photo or print new life simply by using Photoshop. It’s an intuitive process really. You just keep playing with different things until it all comes together.
Next I’m going to fix the wood frame. It’s had some rough handling over the years and will be a bigger challenge for me than refreshing the print. Because there’s no “undo” command with hands-on stuff, there’s no room for mistakes. (Wish me luck).