Is this the best I'm likely to get these old black & white photos looking?

[AntiqueFlaneur]

I'm new to photo editing, and trying to maximize the quality of old photos which have recently been scanned. The photos do not have any rips/blemishes. 

So far, I have found that FFT denoise filter makes a small but solid improvement to the photos by reducing some graininess.

I'm not sure if I'm right about this because I don't really have an eye for it, but it appears to me that using the "multiply" layer effect seems to darken my photos a bit and makes the detail easier to see. 

Are there any other level adjustments, filters, or tools I should play around with to improve this further, or is this likely the quality I'm likely to get? Most of the tools I've looked at don't seem to affect B&W photos much. 

I'm attaching an original unedited photo and what it looks like after going through FFT denoise and the multiply effect. 

 

 

[Old Bruce]

Try using a Curves adjustment layer.

[Wosven]

Hi,

Can, you attach an original of the same size as the second image? As it is, it's difficult to compare.

[Old Bruce]

This is what I meant. Would change the bit depth to 16bits before doing any work though, get a nicer result.

BeforeEditing.afphoto

1 hour ago, AntiqueFlaneur said:

I'm new to photo editing, and trying to maximize the quality of old photos which have recently been scanned. The photos do not have any rips/blemishes. 

[markw]

Running the FFT Denoise filter first on this particular photo of the rice growers could help it. There is definite patterning on the original that could be removed using FFT that's still present here.

The filter can take some practice but I think it could remove more of the patterning still.

Attached are two processed images from your other thread about these images, with saved history so you can see what I did.
Hopefully they may give you some ideas.
One thing I would also add about the FFT window, for some reason it always opens zoomed in? So I find expanding it as large as practically possible and zooming it out helps, so I can see the whole FFT "canvas" which makes “painting” in it a bit easier and more precise.

 

Archive.zip

[AntiqueFlaneur]

9 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

Try using a Curves adjustment layer.

Just exploring this now. Definitely gives more control than the Multiple option. Thanks. 

[AntiqueFlaneur]

7 hours ago, markw said:

The filter can take some practice but I think it could remove more of the patterning still.

 

I followed the tutorial video posted in the other thread. I've attempted to click on all the specs of light except for the center one. I zoomed out. Attached is a pic of what the filter screen looks like when I'm done. Is there something else I should be doing with the filter?

Thanks so much for including the pics with the editing history. Very helpful

[AntiqueFlaneur]

9 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

This is what I meant. Would change the bit depth to 16bits before doing any work though, get a nicer result.

BeforeEditing.afphoto

That's done while exporting the finished image, right? So you select 16bit TIFF or Photoshop PSD? Are there setting I need to change to 16 bit inside Photo as well? If so, where is the menu to do it? I did find this, but I'm not sure if it's relevant. 

 

[AntiqueFlaneur]

9 hours ago, markw said:

Quote

Attached are two processed images from your other thread about these images, with saved history so you can see what I did.

@markw
I noticed that you managed to crop the image in an oval. When I look at the history log, it mentions a "raster crop." Is that how you made the ovular crop? Can you explain how you did that? I've only seen the rectangular crop tool on the left-side toolbar. 

 

 

[John Rostron]

9 hours ago, AntiqueFlaneur said:

That's done while exporting the finished image, right?

There is no point in converting to 16-bit at the end. You need to do this at the very start or, better still, re-scan them at 16-bit.

I suspect, however, that you will not see any significant improvement in the photo you have provided.

John

[markw]

11 hours ago, AntiqueFlaneur said:

I've attempted to click on all the specs of light except for the center one. I zoomed out. Attached is a pic of what the filter screen looks like when I'm done. Is there something else I should be doing with the filter?

At the top of FFT window you will see that you can also control the other parameters of the brush that you are using, not just it’s size.
Adjusting these for use in different areas will sometimes give a more nuanced control over what is happening to the image.
I also prefer working with the ‘Split View’ option selected to see what effect I’m getting in different areas of the image.

9 hours ago, AntiqueFlaneur said:

I noticed that you managed to crop the image in an oval. When I look at the history log, it mentions a "raster crop." Is that how you made the ovular crop? Can you explain how you did that? I've only seen the rectangular crop tool on the left-side toolbar

The “Raster Crop” near the beginning is just the regular Crop Tool in Photo, just to get rid of the majority of the unwanted pixels surrounding the oval area.
The actual oval "crop" was done with an elliptical Curve shape dragged onto the image to act as a clipping mask.
If you go to the beginning of the History and click on each entry in the History Panel you can effectively “play back” the steps to see what’s happening.

Although I didn’t do it in my examples, I would agree with the others here that in general, setting your working file to 16bit at the start will give you more tonal values to work with and reduce the risk of “banding” in any large areas containing tonal gradients. (Although in these two images that is not too much of a concern).
When restoring old or damaged images a lot of it is experimentation as you go.
The more you do, the more successes you will have with the individual steps and so the library of steps you can try on the problem areas of any new images increases.
And whilst it’s rarely ever as easy as always do; A followed by B, C & D = done! You will begin to develop a general "feel" for the rout you want to take and what steps might be needed to get you there.

[AntiqueFlaneur]

1 hour ago, markw said:

At the top of FFT window you will see that you can also control the other parameters of the brush that you are using, not just it’s size.
Adjusting these for use in different areas will sometimes give a more nuanced control over what is happening to the image.
I also prefer working with the ‘Split View’ option selected to see what effect I’m getting in different areas of the image.

The “Raster Crop” near the beginning is just the regular Crop Tool in Photo, just to get rid of the majority of the unwanted pixels surrounding the oval area.
The actual oval "crop" was done with an elliptical Curve shape dragged onto the image to act as a clipping mask.
If you go to the beginning of the History and click on each entry in the History Panel you can effectively “play back” the steps to see what’s happening.

Although I didn’t do it in my examples, I would agree with the others here that in general, setting your working file to 16bit at the start will give you more tonal values to work with and reduce the risk of “banding” in any large areas containing tonal gradients. (Although in these two images that is not too much of a concern).
When restoring old or damaged images a lot of it is experimentation as you go.
The more you do, the more successes you will have with the individual steps and so the library of steps you can try on the problem areas of any new images increases.
And whilst it’s rarely ever as easy as always do; A followed by B, C & D = done! You will begin to develop a general "feel" for the rout you want to take and what steps might be needed to get you there.

@markw Thanks!