The Dust and Scratches Filter are available "Elements" in Photoshop to repair scratches and eliminate marks in your photos. Click on the Filter Tab in the Dust and Scratches Filter located on the Menu Bar to start your corrections. A drop down menu will appear that will list "elements." Then choose the Noise tab and select Dust and Scratches.
After choosing the Dust and Scratches menu, a window will pop up containing two control sliders. The first slider is for the Radius and the other one is for the Threshold. There will also be another window if the preview box is checked. These are the main options that will be used in correcting the image.
Adjusting the Radius slider may remove the scratches. However, there is a tendency that overdoing it may make the edges blurred too. If that happens, the option is to adjust the Threshold slider and this will allow the details to go back and make the picture clearer with the scratches disappearing. The person should be careful not to set them too far or it will only create blotches on the picture.
Selecting the entire photo will not correct and remove all of the marks in one shot. The better alternative is to use the Lasso feature to select only a small area where the scratch is located to treat the photo one section at a time. This improves the quality of the photo as a whole, without losing any of the detail.
You can then feather the edges of the chosen area so that the selected area will not be apparent on the picture. You can do this by clicking the Feather option and click the Scratch and Dust Filter again. You can repeat the process of adjusting the Radius and Threshold sliders to get the texture desired and do away with the scratches.
If there are still visible marks on the other parts of the picture, he can do the technique again by selecting the areas he would like to adjust. To finish the process and make the picture presentable, he can crop the image enough to remove the cracks and torn edges of the picture. The canvas may be use to equally crop the image.
You can insert drama into the picture by adding a drop shadow to it. This will make the picture seem as if it has been lifted off the page. The color may also be removed using the controls Shift+Ctrl+U. You can then add color by adding a small amount of Sepia using the Hue or Saturation tab. The contrast may be balanced using the Levels option.
This is a simple solution to removing blotches and marks on an aged photo. It will make the photo look new and fresh, but still maintain a classic appearance. Photoshop offers an easy and fun way to restore photos for viewing for years to come.
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