One of the coolest things one can do with their digital darkroom (computer, scanner, photo editing software) is to scan in and restore old family photographs. Most old photos including ones from the 1970's and 1980's have already started to break down. Of the 22 albums I have from the 1960's, 1970' and 1980's most of images in those albums have faded, turned yellow and show some major over exposure problems (some from poor camera metering at the time they were taken, some from the aging processing).

Besides the break down of old images there are other similar disastrous effects. In most of the pre-1970's albums that I have the images are black and white and they have been glued to the pages so removal requires that I either pull the album apart or try to pull the photos off the pages. Then you have the textured photographic papers. Many of the images from the 1970's has a hexagon or honey comb like texture to it. Then there are tears, creases, and out right missing pieces to deal with. On color photos you have color restoration issues too. These are just some of the problems one can come across when trying to preserve the family history in photographs. Oh, and lets add one more, how about those weird photo sizes. Most of the photos in my 1970's albums are square, these are not exactly conducive to printing today.

Fortunately even today's most affordable photo editors like Adobe Photoshop Elements have all of the tools you need to fix these photos and restore them. Maybe not to like new condition but at least 95% of new condition. When a photo fades and image data is lost, you can't bring that back. If a shot of a bride in a white wedding dress fades and there is no longer any detail in the dress, there is very little you can do to bring that lost image data back. But, you can certainly improve what is there and make it a digital file that as long as you keep them backed up to the latest digital medias over the generations will last forever. That is more than can be said for the photographic print.

Restoring photographs has gotten easier thanks to powerful new features inside of programs like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Corel Paint Shop Pro and the like. But, there is still a lot you need to know to do the job correctly. For this you need a good book in photo restoration. One of the best that I have found is Digital Restoration from Start to Finish by Ctein, published by Focal Press.

This is a hefty full color book that covers... well every aspect of photo restoration that I could think of. It provides real world useful information and techniques for correcting problems like restoring a photos tone, color, fixing scratches, tears, cracks, dust and even how to deal with that honey comb texture from the 1970's.

There are tons of illustrations, screen shots and sample photos showing you what the author is talking about. While the techniques covered are not step-by-step the information you need to know to make the corrections is included. There is no restoration technique that will work perfectly for every restoration job. You need to understand and have the skills to adjust the techniques to the photo you are restoring. Step-by-step instructions just don't make sense when there are so many variables.

Chapters:

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Big Picture
Chapter 2: Hardware for Restoration
Chapter 3: Software for Restoration
Chapter 4: Getting the Photo into the Computer
Chapter 5: Restoring Tone
Chapter 6: Restoring Color
Chapter 7: Making Masks
Chapter 8: Damage Control
Chapter 9: Tips, Tricks, and Enhancements
Chapter 10: Examples
Chapter 11: Printing Tips
Chapter 12: Archiving and Permanence

Besides the thoroughness of this book I also like the fact that there are over 60 How-To's spread throughout the book. How-To's for un-mounting a slide, eliminate tarnish and silvered-out spots, retouch skin tones with an airbrush layer and more.

This is a fantastic book on photo restoration, one of the best I have ever seen. If you plan to do any kind of photo restoration you have to have this book. It is well worth the $39.95 cover price.