Help to PP some old pics please!

[Marvin]

Hi All!
I am trying to make a book up for my mum with some old pictures of her and my dad and their parents. Unfortunately many of the pictures I have seem to be snaps, and a lot don't seem to be that great. Is there any way to salvage them? They seem slightly blurry and I have played around and can't get anything too good.

I want to make them a bit sharper and "pop" a bit more so the main subject (people) stand out a bit better.

Here are some examples of the ones I would like to fix.




This one is a bit easier but I can't decide whether to leave it sepia or make it b&w.


Any help, thoughts, ideas or tutorials greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Lee

[jethro]

Can fix but will take a few hours. Tutororial wil take longer. try some contrast enhancing, and level tinkering in Pshop
Jethro

[owen]

Hi Marvin. I just tried the following method on the last image and it made it look more contrasty:

Open image in photoshop
duplicate layer
Filter - Other - High Pass at a value of 10 or more
Change the layer type to 'Hard Light' (top left hand drop down box of the Layers Palette
Change the opacity to suit.

This should make the image appear a little sharper too.

Also experiment with duplicating the layer and changing the contrast, and then varying the opacity of that layer too.

Hope this helps, if I can help in any way let me know.

regards,
Owen.

[Marty]

Personally Lee I prefer the look of older photos.
I love looking through old b/w images.
You can easily improve these images if you need to.
Try levels, curves, shadow/highlight, sharpening, and cloning of damged areas. Remember always do the above on a duplicate layer and adjust the opacity on the layer to suit.
Marty

[owen]

Here is a quick go with the method I described with the addition of a sepia layer.




Of course as mentioned you should look to clone out the scratches and things like that.

[big pix]

Lee ..... I can help you with pp on these, but not untill early next week, as I am in the middle of a commerical shoot for a client....... let me know via pm

[jethro]

Here is one example of a tidy up


Jethro

[Marvin]

Wow, thanks everybody! That is just the type of information I need. You are very generous! Jethro and Owen, that is the type of thing I am after - I will have a play with the settings and suggestions. I am a very basic photoshopper!
Thanks Marty, yes I am enjoying looking through them and scanning/photographing them. I tried my pp and then printing them at the local shop but they were still quite blurry.
Big Pix, I might take you up on that offer. I will pm you. Thank you so much!
Lee

[Colcam]

Spend a bit of time here for more than a few tips. http://www.retouchpro.com/