Photo repair if possible

[Hett65]

I know we have some good restores of photographs on the GWF, can anyone assist me with removing the crease from this photograph. The two men in army uniform are brothers, one was awarded the DCM, the other the MM.

Thanks

John

[exXIX]

2 hours ago, Hett65 said:

I know we have some good restores of photographs on the GWF, can anyone assist me with removing the crease from this photograph. The two men in army uniform are brothers, one was awarded the DCM, the other the MM.

Thanks

John

Have you tried this free software https://www.gimp.org, it's similar to photoshop and would be much easier for you if you have the original. Repeated downloading reduces the quality of the photo but I have found this software easy to use and there are plenty of colourising/repairing videos on YouTube to show how it's done...Good Luck 

Edited 4 November , 2021 by exXIX

[Hett65]

Thanks for the information on the software, unfortunately I do  not have the original photograph but I will give it a go.

John

[exXIX]

2 hours ago, Hett65 said:

Thanks for the information on the software, unfortunately I do  not have the original photograph but I will give it a go.

John

My pleasure...enjoy mate

 

[KevG]

Hi, I hope this is ok for you.

 

Kev.

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Hi KevG,

That's a great job you've done there.

One  small point though if I may... the process has removed entirely 4 of the 5 the cuff insignias present in the original image.
Is there any way of restoring them?

[Hett65]

Kev

Its more than ok, it is brilliant, and thanks for taking the time to help me out with this photograph it is much appreciated.

Regards

John

[tbirduk]

a slightly gentler approach to preserve detail, whilst removing age staining etc.

[JWK]

Here my take on it (done with http://www.photofiltre.com/)

[Hett65]

Thanks to everyone who has improved the photograph for me.

John

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

And my interpretation of it:

Denoising via RAW filter in Photoshop.

 

[Hett65]

Dai Bach y Sowldiwr

Thanks for your contribution in cleaning up this photograph.

John

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

2 hours ago, Hett65 said:

Dai Bach y Sowldiwr

Thanks for your contribution in cleaning up this photograph.

John

You're welcome.

If you were to scan the original image at a far higher resolution, 1200dpi or even more if you could, then the resulting repair would be more successful. The original image is only 89kB and only 809 x 590 pixels. Consequently there's a lot of JPEG artifact in it already. Starting wirh a much bigger image means the artifact as a proportion will be much  much less and you will preserve far more original detail. Blemishes can be removed more easily as there  is a bigger  margin around areas in which to work.

[David26]

What a great photo - and so much fabulous work on cleaning it up!

Do we know who the identity of those in the photo?

David.

[Hett65]

Dai Bach y Sowldiwr

Unfortunately this is not the original photograph, it was a copy sent to me, but I have taken notice of your comments. Thanks.

David 

From left to right, the sailor is Thomas Hardy; seated is Gunner 45252 Cuthbert Hutchinson RFA who is wearing his MM; William Whitmarsh in civilian clothing; Sgt 45309 William Hutchinson wearing his DCM. The Hutchinson's are brothers and lived in Tudhoe, Co Durham; the sailor and civilian are supposedly uncle and nephew but I do not know which is which.

John

[David26]

Thanks John. 

That's an impressive collection of medals, wound stripes and overseas chevrons between those Hutchinson brothers. 

David.

[Tom Oliviers]

I've colorised the photo with myheritage: you can use that websites program 14 days for free (afterwards change email and re-use it for free, its pretty expensive the subscription)

 

[Hett65]

Tom

Thanks for taking the time to colour this photograph, I will forward it to their relatives.

John

[aden10]

Hett65 are they local men you are researching ?

[nemesis-4u]

Hi All,

Great Results. 

So pleased I found this topic, I have just come across a load of WW1 period photographs and some are a wee bit faded and crumpled/edge wear, etc.

They are very small, small and medium sized, no negatives but most have writing on the back.

So once I have figured out how to clean them up and enhance the detail, will share with anyone who might be interested, most are Egypt/Desert/Hill 1070/Officers, etc.

Chris.  

[SouthendJohn]

Hiall

Anyone know if i can do anything with these to make them look clearer/sharper?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

JB

 

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

You should always start with the best possible image available.
A flatbed scanner, or an overhead scanner is several orders of magnitude better than a grab shot mobile phone in uneven lighting conditions.
The best you can hope for with a small newspaper photo is to get an image which is as good as the newspaper image.
Of course you can then use photo editing software to manipulate the image, but any supposed improvements in quality won't be 'real', they are what the software imagines should be in the photo.

[SouthendJohn]

1 minute ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said:

You should always start with the best possible image available.
A flatbed scanner, or an overhead scanner is several orders of magnitude better than a grab shot mobile phone in uneven lighting conditions.
The best you can hope for with a small newspaper photo is to get an image which is as good as the newspaper image.
Of course you can then use photo editing software to manipulate the image, but any supposed improvements in quality won't be 'real', they are what the software imagines should be in the photo.

i am nowhere near clever enough to be able to do any of that, but i certainly appreciate you trying to help me :-)

JB

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

14 minutes ago, SouthendJohn said:

i am nowhere near clever enough to be able to do any of that, but i certainly appreciate you trying to help me :-)

JB

Are the press cuttings that you posted in your possession, or are they in a newspaper in a library, or somewhere else?
If you give us the name of the paper, somebody on here might have online access via the British Newspaper Archive and can hopefully provide a better starting point.

[4thGordons]

As noted as these are press versions of pictures they are not really photographs but you can do some things to them to make them look more like it.

The process would really be helped by better quality copies but here is a very quick go with what you posted -- not sure they are much of an improvement in this case, but you get the idea.

Chris