Introduction
Photos are a significant lifetime memory store which preserves our past experiences. They take us back to those days, reminding you of many things, whether bad or good experiences. Most of these photos are usually kept in albums or frames. But still, they tend to get dull, torn, fade up or catch creases because of improper storage or mishandling.
With the advancements in technology resulting in Photoshop, it is not a must to be a professional to restore your old memories stored on photos. Anyone can do it playing around with the basic tricks and breathe life back to your old photos. We have identified the most straightforward steps you can apply to restore your old memories.
How to Restore Old Photos
Acquiring the Appropriate Photo Restoration Software
First, you will need to have an appropriate photo restoration software downloaded on your computer or smartphone. You may be asking yourself what this software is. Well, it is an image editing tool found on the internet. They have varied features, extensions, and features that help in editing an old damaged photo.
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Some of them are for free, while others require a certain amount of fee to use. We recommend you select the best photo restoration software which can give high-quality photos like the Adobe Photoshop CC, Luminar 4, GIMP, among others. Once you have acquired the tool, you are now good to start the old memory revival process.
Digitize your Old Photo
The next important step is to use the best quality scanner device with high resolution to scan your old photo. This stage involves converting pictures to a digital file that is readable by the computer device. If you are using a camera, then you need to make sure that you set your camera to high resolution to capture it digitally. Once the scanning process is complete, save the digital image with the highest resolution on your computer. The most appropriate format is JPEG.
Preparing the Image in the Software
Click on the file icon on the software’s navigation bar to open and select the digital image file you saved in step 2. Here, the restoration software you have will determine whether the image is of the correct format and resolution. If not, you will have to start the process again and this time, set your scanner or camera appropriately. This ensures that the photo is crisp when printed.
Crop the Boundaries
This is suitable in the case where the borders of the photo are dirty—a Crop tool represented by a square-like icon whose sides continue past the edges. Click and drag to select the amount of your photo you need it kept inside the broken or dotted lines. Use any other tool to finish the cropping and save it.
Adjust Brightness and Contrast
Adjusting the brightness and contrast is yet another critical stage when restoring an old photo. A brightness and Contrast Dialogue box will pop up once you navigate to the brightness and contrast icon. Toggle through the slider to modify the brightness of your photo. In this stage, you should be careful when adjusting the light. You can minimize darkness by increasing light as you desire. It should not be too much in one way or the other since the image can be washed out.
Adjusting the Faded Color
In the case where your old photo had its color faded out, you will click on the Working Layer. Move to the image through the adjustments for the color balance option. Select and adjust the various colors using the sliders as displayed by the color balance dialogue box as you wish to give a perfect balance. Make sure to check the Preserve Luminosity box so as the brightness and contrast established are maintained. Also, modify the hue and saturation sliders as desired.
Eliminating Dust and Scratches using Spot Healing
Photo restoration software is usually equipped with a Spot Healing tool represented by a Band-Aid on their control board. In this stage, you can zoom the image to separate small patches of dust or scratches—a small-sized brush depending on the photo size and how detailed you need it to be. The Spot Healing tool also can be placed over any specs of dust and remove.
Deleting Lines or Cracks using Clone Stamp Tool
Here, a hand-like stamp icon is used to brush to clean the part of the image closer to the line or anomaly. An opacity toggle can be used to modify the opacity of the brush while minimizing the stark appearance of any changes. Also, this stage involves smoothening the photo so that it looks like it never had any cracks or lines.
Recreating lost Highlights using Dodge Tool
A lollipop-like icon often represents the Dodge tool. This tool is essential as it helps in the redevelopment of photo highlights as desired. It would be best if you did not overuse the Dodge tool as it may cause the photo to look like grainy.
Save and Export the New Photo
Once you have finished with the old photo restoration, you can save the working using a proper name so that when you want to retrieve it, it will be much easier for you. You can save it as a file as .jpg in your preferred folder. Print it and frame the new memory photo.
CONCLUSION
With all of the steps above, you will not only get brand new photos but also improved in the in any photo you desire to revive. Of course, a new life will be breathed into your old photo at the same time, bringing your past warm memories to your surroundings. These fantastic photos will serve best as invitations for anniversaries, birthdays, or fill your photo books. The only key to success for the old photo restoration process is solely dependent on the quality of the software tool used. Therefore you need to select the best editing software that will restore your old memories correctly.