Digital Restoration From Start to Finish: How to repair old and damaged photographs [Paperback]

Ctein (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240808142 | ISBN-13: 978-0240808147 | Publication Date: December 13, 2006

Digital Restoration: Start to Finish guides you step-by-step through the entire process of restoring old photographs and repairing new ones using Adobe Photoshop, plug-ins, and Picture Window. Nothing is left out, from choosing the right hardware and software and getting the photographs into the computer, to getting the finished photo out of the computer and preserving it for posterity.

With this book you will learn how to:

. scan faded and damaged prints and films
. improve snapshots with the Shadow/Highlight adjustment
. correct uneven exposure and do dodging and burning-in with Curves adjustment layers
. scan and recover nearly blank photograph
. fix color with Curves and Hue/Saturation adjustment layers
. fix skin tones with airbrush layers
. hand-tint a photograph easily with masked layers
. fix color with plug-ins
. clean up dust and scratches
. repair small and large cracks with masks and filter
. eliminate tarnish and silvered-out spots from a photograph
. minimize unwanted print surface textures
. erase mildew spots
. eliminate the dots from newspaper photographs
. increase sharpness and fine detail in a photograph

* Clear and easy to understand with over 500 illustrations and step-by-step instruction
* Explains what inexpensive alternatives to Photoshop are available for you to use
* Highlights Photoshop plug-ins that can do restoration work quickly

Editorial Reviews

Review

This thorough compendium of digital photo-restoration techniques, by PT contributing editor Ctein, explains almost anything you could need to know about repairing aged or damaged photographs using a scanner and Photoshop ( with occasional help from some additional software.)-Photo Techniques, Mar-Apr 2007

The book features restoration tips and methods for handling a range of deteriorated images by using a variety of tools, and then shows how these techniques can be applied to contemporary photographs that have poor color or tonal rendition, as well as misexposed prints.-Photographic Trade News, February 2007

Book Description

Digital Restoration takes the reader through the entire process of restoring old photographs and repairing new ones using Photoshop, Plugins, and Picture Window.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press (December 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240808142
• ISBN-13: 978-0240808147
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #395,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ctein - The Master, February 10, 2007

By 

Tim Elliott (Mount Gambier, South Australia Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Digital Restoration From Start to Finish: How to repair old and damaged photographs (Paperback)

At last!, a decent "how-to" book, well written and concise, thank you Ctein.
The How-to's page is very practical if a specific problem arises when in the middle of a restoration project, whether its removing dust and scratches or resurrecting the color in a treasured family photo, Ctein has an answer.
The book will be valuable to the "beginner" or the "seasoned pro" because of its generous scope, from the minor to the major. Some of the major photos that Ctein has resurrected most people would have tossed out as "hopeless".
This book will become my "bible" as I continue the task of salvaging family memories. The plug-ins chapter is very valuable because of Ctein's fair and objective assessment of the current systems he has used and appraised.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, April 22, 2007

By 

Kevin M. Elliott - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Digital Restoration From Start to Finish: How to repair old and damaged photographs (Paperback)

As moderator of a photographic web site's discussion forum, I often find myself having to answer questions about scanning and restoring photographs. The nature of a web discussion forum often prevents and in-depth reply to individual questions, and we also find that many of the questions have been asked and answered before, albeit in a slightly different way.

What a relief & pleasure to discover this book - it covers almost all aspects of the scanning and archiving process, with many specific how-tos covering the problems experienced by photo-restorers.

Ctein's vast experience and knowledge are well demonstrated in this readable and practical book, which I'd suggest is a must have for anyone contemplating scanning and restoring a photographic archive.

Pre-requisites are a working knowledge of your image editor and scanner software, and an awareness of the principles of colour management - without these the job is impossible, anyway.

A couple of minor criticisms
- the book is very much photoshop based, and although the book says that other image editors (such as picture window pro) can be used, the photoshop bias may be off-putting for someone trying to use an alternative editor.
- each example photograph crops up in many places throughout the book, making it occasinally difficult to follow, and although there's a chapter specifically devoted to end to nd restorations of the sample photos, some may find that the info related to a specific picture is a little too widely spread.

Overall an excellent book, easy to read and providing real insight and practical methods of photographic restoration and archiving. Essential reading!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Digital Restoration from Start to Finish, August 23, 2007

By 

Norman Lapearle - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Digital Restoration From Start to Finish: How to repair old and damaged photographs (Paperback)

I found the book excellent in its scope of coverage and detailed lessons/projects. Whether you are a professional or amatuer photographer or photo restorer this book should be in your digital editing library. The book is well laid out and takes you from relatively simple to complex restoration challenges. The author includes information on various editing software used in restoration as well as reference to books by other authors in the field. The man knows digital restoration and he has the ability to pass his knowledge on to the reader in an informative, detailed manner.