fix up scanned photos

[Annie Girl]

I want to scan my wedding photos and scrap them. They look really bad after they've been scanned. Help! How can I fix them up?

We were married 7 years ago today. August 22, 1998.

Here's a pic of The Kiss.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/AnnieGirl3/kissweb.jpg

Here's the original. Feel free to play with it in photoshop. I'd like you know what you did.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/AnnieGirl3/kissmeweb.jpg

[Nevermore]

:confused: Sarah, the second attachment looks a kazillion times better than the first. What do you mean when you say it is the "original"? Please explain the difference between the two pics. Looks to me like you already did a lot of cleanup and the second isn't bad at all (dramatic moment!)

[angleigh]

Sarah, I don't have much experience with scanning photos in to scrap but I do know when you scan a photo and then try to crop and enlarge a small portion your going to get that "noisey" effect. Which i'm taking by the two photos that you've shown us your wanting to do. I haven't gotten to play with the photo but here's a few things you can try.

-if you crop it close enough the right hand side of the photo (the little boy and blue dress) should be pretty easy to clone out of the picture. That would take away some of the distraction
-there's a program called NEAT IMAGE (http://www.neatimage.com/) that I just heard of yesterday that's suppose to help clean up the "noise" in photos. There's a free trial download on the website. You could try downloading that and see how much of the noise it takes out of the photo once it's been cropped.
-the other thing you could try is Virtual Photographer (http://www.optikvervelabs.com/) if you don't already use it. It's a free program and is awesome. Just adding one of the filters might give the photo a whole new look.

Sorry I couldn't be of much help, but hopefully one of these programs will get you closer to the look your desiring.

[Vania16]

It does look like at least part of the problem with the top version is the tight crop. If you can scan the original at a higher dpi and maybe even make the output a bigger size that can help a lot. I often scan at 1200 (the max my scanner will do) and make the output 8x10 if I know I'm going to crop the photo in.

I also found Angie's tips for lightening and darkening photos helpful on old scans as many of mine are too light:

Here's a quick and easy way to help fix this photos

1. Choose layer, Duplicat layer, and click ok
2. Choose Window, Layers, and click on Background Copy
3. locate the drop down list just above this layer, which should say normal. If your imapge is overexposed and very light, choose Multiply from the list. If the photo is underexposed or dark, select Screen.
4. If this fix is too much, adjust the opacity (it's the slider next to the drop down list) a bit.

The auto color, contrast, etc. can also sometimes help when you just don't know where to start. They aren't perfect, but sometimes better than I can get myself LOL. Also, Angie's right about Virtual Photographer - make the problems looks intentional and cool :)

I guess that's not much new, but really I think scanning it as big as possible is a huge help. I read that one somebody's blog and it really helped by scans.

[Vania16]

One more thing to try - the unsharp mask (I know, it sounds weird, but it sharpens)

To use it with less noise convert the file from RGB to Lab Color. Go to your channels palette and click on the lightness channel. Apply the unsharp mask filter (might have to do it a couple of times) and then switch the file back to RGB.

That will usually help some too :)

[angleigh]

Lisa..great pointers, and I always forget about scanning it a larger size (that's how little I scan in pictures) But it does help in not getting so much of the noise when cropping.

[DianneRigdon]

Oh yeah! Imagine how happy I was when I found out that the scanner I bought before I digiscrapped could scan things in at 600 dpi or higher! Makes a huge difference in being able to scrap with the old photos. :-)

I hope you get it figured out - that's a lovely picture! I actully like it with all the heads craning to get a look at the kiss...gives it emphasis. A little photo editing, like emphasizing the couple by dodging you or desaturating the crowd or blurring them a little or all three lol, might make it a better scene. Let me know if you'd like me to play with it! But for sure I would rescan it at a larger size if possible.

[Annie Girl]

I rescanned ...The higher resolution surley helped me out a LOT! Thanks so much for all the tips. I did a little lightening and a little color boost, and a very tiny USM (unsharpen mask). So now some of the whites are blown( too white- lost detail) but I don't care because now the kissing part is light enough to see. I'm so much happier with the results. Now to find a way to scan without all that lint in the pictures.... lol.
See the results
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/AnnieGirl3/truekiss4web.jpg

[angleigh]

Great job Sarah! Glad everyone was able to help you out.