old photographs

[oldmancap]

can anyone tell me of a FREE software download i could use to repair some old ,and fairly knackered black and white photos. i would be grateful for any tips or advice on how to go about putting them back to a reasonable condition.

thanks oldmancap

[Slapshot]

I've had a few moderate results from Photoshop but it largely depends on what you're starting out with. The quality of the scan appears critical so if your old photo is not up to much you could struggle.

There are some photographic shops (mostly the traditional ones rather than the big market jobs like Jessops) who would probably tackle it.

Hope this helps

[woofgang]

both Phtoshop elements and paintshop pro offer 30 day free trials, google adobe and corel. Google for photo retouch tutorials on your chose program, there are loads, or go look on youtube. Its not that difficult.

[woofgang]

and yes, as snapshot says, you need to start with a scan of AT LEAST 300 dpi

[Buenchico]

As Slapshot indicates, professionals use Photoshop (as do I) but, at around £800 for the full version, it hardly meets your requirement for a free program!

Fortunately there's a free (open source) program which mimics Photoshop, called GIMP:
http://www.gimp.org/

Like Photoshop, there's quite a steep learning curve required to get the best from the software. (Working with layers can be rather tricky at first). If you install GIMP I strongly recommend downloading (and reading!) the documentation which goes with it.

However you might find it easier to view some video tutorials. Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOraJq0EHVs

[Buenchico]

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0dBWkNX9Ys

[Buenchico]

Part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGRhOq37WTo

[Buenchico]

Part 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hdn0pJ53vU

[Buenchico]

Part 5:

[Buenchico]

Another try!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbo86WGr3E0

[Slapshot]

I'm running Photoshop CS5 at the minute but theres been bo great improvement across the photoshop range in handling old prints, the previous CS3 functions were almost identical.

Get as good a scan as possible before you start playing in PS

[carlton23]

Paint.NET v3.5.10 is free and VG, with practise.

[NOX]

Free and pretty good ( with cloning tools etc) is
http://www.picnik.com
and it's online too so nothing to download- I've had some good results with it for something free.

[anotheoldgit]

This is a good free site where some kind persons will restore your old photos for free, don't forget to thank all those that have a go though.

http://www.rootschat....m/index.php?board=298

This is an example of the results some of them achieve.

http://www.rootschat....p/topic,572287.0.html

[oldmancap]

Thank you all for your kind and generous advice. I can always depend on the good people on answerbank to help me out. thanks