Old Photo Pixels really Bad

16 posts / 0 new
Last post
Old Photo Pixels really Bad

Hello, My name is Tammy I'm new here and just wanted to ask a quick question ? Maybe someone can Help ? I have a old pic and I am trying to restore it some for My family but the pixels are so BAD is there anyway to fix this some with My pse 12 ? Thank You so Much ahead of time for reading this and very nice to meet You ALL smiley

Tammy in Ohio

Oh if there is I would love to find out also.

What exactly do you mean by bad pixels? Depending upon the answer, there maybe a way to fix it. However, if it's just that it was scanned at too low of a resolution then it's best to re-scan the photo using a higher resolution(scans should be done at 300 pixels per inch at least but higher is better for poor quality or physically small-sized photographs). If you're willing to share the photo here, I'd be willing to have a goat fixing it for you, as might others.

In Photoshop I use the filter to clean up the scratches and dust first. Than with the healing tool and or the clone stamp clean up any larger scratches or flaws. It is always best to work with small brushes and small areas around people.
Remember you can undo anything that did not turn out the way you expect and than chose a different tool to correct the problem.
After all of the problem areas have been fixed proceed to working with color correction. If this does not work undo and try to Sepia tone or black and white. Sometimes it brings out the areas.

Just as Rose said if it is a low res image and you can rescan it at a higher resolution do so before doing any corrections. If this is not possible than change the resolution. PSE will fill in for the higher resolution. You will find that there will be more to work with.

After making corrections you can also mask each person in the picture and make corrections.
You can also mask all in the picture and change the background.

So if I have an old photo that is pixelated (I hope that's a word) I can scan it at a higher resolution? I never thought of that. I'll try it.

Beatrice Loren wrote:
So if I have an old photo that is pixelated (I hope that's a word) I can scan it at a higher resolution? I never thought of that. I'll try it.

The file format can make a big difference too. If you have a choice, do NOT scan as a .jpg instead,choose .tif .

If you're interested, here's a link to the site of a photo scanning company that gives a good explanation of .JPG vs. TIF

And, though you may know this already,THIS LINK explains the differences between and best uses for a number of different file formats.

I'm on a roll.....here's one more site about file formats that may be interesting reading for some: http://users.wfu.edu/matthews/misc/graphics/formats/formats.html

Nice sites Rose. I only save jpg when sharing or uploading to the web. When I want to edit something or change something I go back to the PSD or TIFF. It may take more drive space. But I think it is worth it to preserve the original.

When scanning a picture it is always best to use the original and not a reprint when possible. There is no replacing missing pixels of a low resolution print. All you can do is work with what you have. If you would like upload the image and we would love to take a look at it.

Thanks for all the good information!

I agree with the others, that scanning with a high resolution can do A LOT!

I have a 4x6 black and white of my grandparents. It started out around the size of a 1x 1.5 I think. It was one of those photo booth shots. Back around 1943, I think. It was with several others of my grandmother with some of the kids.

I scanned it almost as high as I could, 1000 dpi.

You need to take into consideration how it will be viewed as well. Mine, I did not retouch, as it sits in a frame and is usually viewed at least 6 ft way. Remember that at a distance the grain will be blended by the human eye, and look fine. If it's going into a photo album this may not be a simple solution.

Or think outside the box....You could try doing somethings like this with the photo....GIMP Tutorial - Turn Photo into Soft Color Pencil Drawing Though this is in GIMP tutorial I imagine you can do the same things in PSE, using a Gaussian Blur or some such, with also a sketch effect, might make the photo usable in an album / close-up viewing.

So if all else fails, take an effect that would make it work.

Would love to see Before and Afters!

Laura thank you for the video, and yes you can do this in PSE, Photoshop, and PSP

Another thing you can try is to duplicate the photo layer, and put the top copy on blend mode "multiply." This will make it too dark probably, so duplicate the top copy again and put that layer on "screen." Play with the opacities of the layers to get the result you want. Sometimes that's all you need to do to get a passable photo.

what if all I have are digital images? sometimes I want to use the pictures I'm tagged in in Facebook but the resolution is so small, ditto the size which is something like 1 x 1.5 inch. do you have any tips as to how I can make them into a 3 x 5 inch size?

When you resize a picture in Photoshop you can change the size to a larger size. When doing so it is always best to check off the little box for the constraints. This will fill in missing pixels, etc.
If the box is not checked off you will see a larger image, but pixelated. Not a good picture at all.

thanks so much, Judy. will do this. smiley

I will have to try this as well! Never knew about this, thanks.

You are welcome! G;ad I could help.