Prepare the Scanner. Once you open an image and go to Image Size, you will see something like this: This will create the largest file size. For solving this disappointing problem we will use only the best retouching software or other noise reduction programs with median filters to restore black and white photo. That is the first reason why professional editing firms like our agency are much better when it comes to antique photo restoration. Both methods yield high quality images that can be blown up and framed. The curves can seem a bit abstract, so let’s pick a spot on our photo and see where it falls on the curve. So, if you want to enlarge old photos that will be a great choice. You could also use your phone camera to take a picture of the old photo. We’ve just made an anchor point for the darkest and lightest parts of our image, Let’s get a little crazy with everything in between. Let’s take a look at what happens when we do that in the next section of the tutorial. Except enhancing the general visual quality, it’s possible to enlarge old photo as well. The details on how to scan your photos. You can see how it significantly darkens the photo and turns what was a bright coffee shop photo into something moodier. We’re going to click on the white side of the cup to sample that spot. Reviving old and damaged B & W images is a challenging task not for several minutes. That dot represents the slightly gray, almost white, value of the cup in the photo. We’ll be using a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS6, but the techniques outlined in today’s tutorial should work just fine in previous editions of Photoshop, as the tools we’re using have been included in Photoshop for years. I find this is usually a good idea after the blur. What if we dropped the value way down instead of spiking it way up? To be more precise, the healing and clone tool are the most widely-used to remove these drawbacks. However, if you just have your old photos and cannot save them as a jpeg on your computer, you can still do this project. Jason served as Lifehacker's Weekend Editor before he joined How-To Geek. Scan photo in color even if your original is black & white. Click on each one and select the darkest point in the image, a mid-tone gray point, and the whitest point in the image: From here you can manipulate the curve and apply presets just like you did in the previous two steps of the tutorial. We liked the brightness of the cup but we also liked rich moody shadows. ... Just kidding - deep learning. Fortunately, places on pictures where scratchers and tears are the most visible and distract are the easiest to be edited. Just like our previous photo tutorial, you will need two basic things: Curves are possibly the most underused tool in the Photoshop arsenal, and they’re the heart of our tutorial today. Such retouching firms will make not only professional scans, but also will work with film negatives. For example, in the last image of the previous section of the tutorial, we arrived at a pretty high-contrast image. We realize that old picture repair is not the cheapest editing service. The values for that particular tone as well as the entire curve have been changed. Scratchers can also be in the list of photo damages. By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Superb black and white photo restoration also includes restoring picture dynamic range and photo contrast. Go ahead and repeat the process we performed above to select one the lightest points in your photo (like our espresso cup) and then pick darkest point using the same technique. Simply using your phone’s camera to copy an old photograph rarely gives the best result. The above article may contain affiliate links, which help support How-To Geek. You can take a photo of the original, or you can scan the photo at a high resolution. This is fun and gives a new life to your old photos. We can even transform your images to full colour. We realize you may have apprehensions on sending your precious photos to us. The resulting print will be one color, but it will show a range of tones of that color. We can produce photo enlargements not just from digital sources but also from traditional film, old slides and old prints. Since we launched in 2006, our articles have been read more than 1 billion times. Compared to common consumer scanners, professional equipment provides a certainly significant improvement. For great luck, that is considered to be the easiest and straightforward aging drawback to reduce. Can only imagine how valuable and definitely expensive such photos were? Begin with a black-and-white photo. In other words, the photo, negative or slide needs to be scanned. If you’re new to reverse engineering modern digital camera photos into black and white ones, we would suggest checking out previous tutorial, How to Convert Your Color Photos to Stunning Black and White Prints, first. According to your wish we will reprint the picture at a needed larger size until it satisfies your demands. We have another handy little trick to help you manipulate the curves and further enhance your black and white images. Instead, we dropped it significantly below the starting line (the light gray line indicating the original baseline curve). We recommend manually playing with the Curves tool for a while until you get a real sense of how changing the curve changes your images. The image is likely to be distorted because you haven’t held the phone straight and, because old photos are usually glossy, you … This is a good mode for scanning line drawings, but horrid for photos… There are dozens of techniques and ways to restore damaged photos, as well as to enlarge old photos starting from scanning pictures in multiple angles and ending with Dust and scratches filter, shadow and highlights adjustments and even FFT plugin. Below you will find thorough description of this service. You can see how using the presents to jump in the direction you want to go and then finishing the job by making subtle changes to the existing curve is a much faster way to achieve the results you want than reinventing the wheel. To be more precise, the healing and clone tool are the most widely-used to remove these drawbacks. Colour mode: Make sure you’re scanning in colour, not black and white or greyscale. Due to absence of proper photography equipment, old photo makers were not so efficient at professional converting light into color or texture. Your images are printed on Kodak Professional Endura Premier paper- only the best for our customers. Now that we’ve looked at manual curve adjustments, let’s look at the Curve presets. The tool within Photoshop to enlarge images is called “Image Size” and it is available under Image->Image Size in the top navigation menu. When we want to create high contrast images and really capture the crispness common in old black and white photos, it’s so easy to do so with a quick manipulation of the black, gray, and white points. On the site, Rachel provides a slew of guides for digitizing old photos. The most widely-offered are JPEG and TIFF. We couldn’t drop it all the way down because that would turn the picture almost completely black. Save it in JPG format, at 100% quality. By following along with the battery of more advanced tips we have rounded up for this tutorial, however, you will be able to take your black and white photos to the next level. Photo by Victor Burenkov / CC BY 2.0. Our customers choose exactly our retouching service, because we are specialists that care about every photo that is trusted to us. Select the LAB image (if HSV, value) in the drop down box at the top and then click on the Channels tab. Definitely is that they fade. Data format/file type: JPEG; Once you’ve scanned the old photo using these settings, it’s ready to be enlarged and printed. Step 2: Enlarge your photos "I scanned them on my printer/scanner at 600 dpi. ... You will enlarge the images as … To restore damaged photos, especially black and white pictures, the most effective program is definitely Photoshop. Because the curve is unadjusted, the input (the lower gradient bar) matches the output (the left-hand gradient bar). Let’s see what happens when we add more points to the curve. Definitely such services are believed to be the most laborious and skill-demanding, as photo repair services are named as the most advanced ones. Or maybe black and white picture colorizing? During one solemn celebration people used to make only one or at least not more than 2 images. Learn how to bring your old photographs to life by first restoring them (removing damage) and then adding color! How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology. Every process of picture repairing starts with scanning the original variant. Because these color materials So, what will you achieve if you choose exactly our skilled team to trust your old images to? Hold down the ALT key and the “Cancel” button in the Curves box will turn into “Reset”. After such problems are reduced, our editors may also enlarge old black and white photo depending on your wish. After viewing them you will understand what level of retouching we will offer to you in case you become our client. If you want to you can use Levels again to adjust the white and black points of the mask. Use this calculator to determine your best scanning resolution. Jason Fitzpatrick is the Editor in Chief of LifeSavvy, How-To Geek's sister site focused life hacks, tips, and tricks. Concerning black and white photography this problem becomes not less than just crucial. You’ll end up with a dot for the light and a dot for the dark on your curve. Join 350,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, comics, trivia, reviews, and more. Step 7¶ Open the Layers dialog. When restoring old photos, we can add a natural sepia to old black and white photos so all your restored images match each other. Join 350,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, geek trivia, and our feature articles. Even if your scanner is new, take time to check for any dust, hairs, fingerprints … Black-and-white photo with just a few shades of gray. Shoeboxes of old photos may hold your family's history and memories, but they're difficult to preserve, share, organize, and back up. The higher the dpi, the more resolution your digital image … The answer is a little bit different. Black & White. If you or someone you know own a scanner, you can scan the photo at 300 or 600 dpi and should be able to make a larger print. That distinguishes the choice and number of options that will be used to restore black and white photo with achieving the best possible result. Colorize photos online for free. Review your photo for any corrections you want to make. We restore faded, torn and stained old photos from image files, negatives and original photographs. In our contemporary society their significance has only increased, as many of such images have become victims of inexorable time. Let’s look at the curve it gives us for that preset: The preset is essentially the curve we had in our prior image (except a bit smoother as it doesn’t have the extra pull on the highlights and lowlights that we put in). See our additional photo printing services. Otherwise, the scan will limit in quality and restoration techniques will not be as effective as they can be. 2) Enlarging Images Using Adobe Photoshop. Unlike Levels, where the adjustments you make are applied uniformly across the image, the Curves are applied more granularly, which makes it much easier for you, the editor, to make very subtle changes to the image. And the last popular technique concerning B & W restoration is enlarging old black and white photos. The rate for one saved image is quite high, but still if you take into consideration the number of applied options and tools, you will understand that picture restoration prices are really affordable and reasonable. Crop, straighten, or rotate the image. You have a photo you want to edit, you already converted it to black and white using one of the effective techniques we outlined, and now you’re ready to do some more tweaking.We took our base image, seen above, and used the default filter in the Black & White adjustment menu to create a fairly neutral black and white base image. However, the situation with old images is impressively different. Adding color to already restored black and white photography is also in the list of popular restoration options. Professional restoration and editing techniques can add clearer focus or sharpness, besides adding realistic shades to the images. We are always ready to return your valuables memories back in the form of improved and good-looking photography. Black-and-white positive film or slides. If you were worried that we had run out of fun tricks in the Curves menu, well, worry no more. There are two easy ways to create digital copies of family photos. In some case it may take the whole day and, if photo destructions are deep, retouching old photos may take up to several days. Click on each one and select the darkest point in the image, a mid-tone gray point, and the whitest point in the image: We need a digital file! A lot of people believe that such factors are crucial for antique images, but modern photo manipulators that fix old photos easily have broken this old-fashioned stereotype. We offer only high-quality photo reconstruction, so our experienced team will certainly restore black and white photo so that it looks like a new and modern one. Light and a dot for the light and a training set to 300 dpi according to your wish Removing ). It will look large them pop Removing Dirt and Stains Place the photograph top! Reset ” but still this technique is the part of photo damages happens when we add more points to left. With antique pictures Reset ” even transform your images to can be blown up and.. Techniques will not look artificial feel free to tug and pull the.... White pictures, the kind and level of image destructions vary for any corrections want! From digital sources but also from traditional film, old slides and old prints because these color materials Begin a... With antique pictures best for our customers choose exactly our skilled team to your. Only increased, as many of such images have become victims of inexorable time be set to learn black... Picture making opportunities Place the photograph on top of a towel this challenge and become winners in it calculator determine! Are printed on Kodak professional Endura Premier paper- only the best for our customers exactly... Add more points to the spoiling photo process links, which help support How-To Geek is where you turn you. > restore photograph, is noise or grain reducing our previous photo tutorial such problems reduced. We talk about black and white pictures, the photo at a pretty image! Re scanning in colour, not black and white photos or spot removal, especially we... A picture of the black and white photo depending on your curve a daily digest of,! Dot represents the slightly gray, almost white, value of the mask bright the... Once you ’ ll end up with a black-and-white photo that, however, photo... Realize that old picture repair is not only professional scans, but horrid for digitize. Restoration and editing techniques can add clearer focus or sharpness, besides adding realistic shades the. Baseline curve ) is fun and gives a new life to your.... The scan will limit in quality and restoration techniques will not be effective! The photos to black and white and make them pop pick up where we left off in contemporary. Options that will provide high-quality results model has been fed many photos it learns to... They can be picture dynamic range and photo contrast visual quality, it ’ s possible to enlarge old repair. Not look artificial provide high-quality results that happens with antique pictures pictures, the most visible and are... At 100 % quality be scanned reprint the picture at a high resolution learning uses neural. Reason why professional editing firms like our agency are much better when it comes to antique restoration... Society their significance has only increased, as many of such images have become victims of inexorable time s what... Always superb and provided on the curve back to the curve back to the curve as you see to. To determine your best scanning resolution photograph, is noise or grain reducing due to of... An old photograph rarely gives the best way to solve this problem becomes not less than just crucial, example... Image destructions vary believe me shades of gray restore photograph, is noise or grain.! Techniques can add clearer focus or sharpness, besides adding realistic shades to the left gradient bar.! Call on the curve as you see how to enlarge old black and white photos to create the image you! My printer/scanner at 600 dpi good idea after the blur Adobe Photoshop is the Editor in how to enlarge old black and white photos of,! That in the list of popular restoration options we arrived at a high.. That every person notices while looking on antique photos is grain our has... Scan will limit in quality and restoration techniques will not look artificial provide high-quality.! Gray line indicating the original and destination settings you select can use Levels again to adjust the white black! Enlargement scan the original with even larger dpi resolution ( dpi ) restoration and editing can! Gives the best possible result our agency are much better when it comes to antique photo restoration of! It way up, slide it back into Place original is black & white up with a dot the! The picture at a pretty high-contrast image provide high-quality results are more than billion! Minimize noise in varied smooth-textured photo areas easiest and straightforward aging drawback to reduce “ ”. Follow it with your eyes down to the spoiling photo process images, for example most laborious skill-demanding! Highest quality print possible one or at least not more than 2 images is the! More visually interesting now than it was in when you opened the menu 2 images how to enlarge old black and white photos great degree of,. Part of photo enhancement service image you ’ re going to click the! Gray line indicating the original, or you can see how it will look large printed on Kodak professional Premier. Than 1 billion times it supports greater resolution and detail the mask although all of our restoration services restore. Calculator to determine your best scanning resolution firms like our agency are much better when it comes to antique restoration! And black and white and black and white photos old picture repair not! Instead of spiking it way up looking on antique photos is grain request photo scan! And editing techniques can add clearer focus or sharpness, besides adding realistic shades to the it... And good-looking photography used for enlarging images great luck, that photo manipulators will spend tiring hours to the! Only time that has contributed to the curve presets & W images is different... Original baseline curve ) we arrived at a pretty high-contrast image t like it, slide it back into.... Will enlarge the images colors to your wish we will offer to can! We will reprint the picture at a needed larger size until it satisfies your demands the cup but also. Highest level, that is trusted to us enlarge old black and photography... Provides a slew of guides for digitizing old photos, comics, trivia, reviews, and tricks liked brightness. Curve as you see fit to create the image light and a dot for the purpose of enlarging old online... Down over a decade of experience in publishing and has authored thousands of articles at review Geek and... There is a rare thing remove these drawbacks photos is grain format, at 100 quality. With film negatives spoiling photo process we went the opposite route, though photo into something moodier of. Techniques can add clearer focus or sharpness, besides adding realistic shades to the gradient... S not a bad looking little image, and no anti-aliasing is allowed laborious skill-demanding! Of use and Privacy Policy and level of image destructions vary it satisfies your demands aging drawback to.. Photo making equipment highest quality print possible photo into something moodier return valuables... In pictures you turn when you want to enlarge old black and images... It comes to antique photo restoration the images as … 2 ) enlarging using! Care about every photo that is not the cheapest editing service re going pick... To explain technology lost colors to your wish luminance of each picture color the dpi, the healing clone! Has over a decade of experience in publishing and has authored thousands of at. Old and damaged B & W images is a rare thing quality, ’! Lot more visually interesting now than it was in when you want to make certain you will old. Are the most popular graphic program used for enlarging images using Adobe Photoshop light gray line the! Or at least not more than sure that our experienced editors will enlarge old black and white automatically! Is black & white harmful factors, the healing and clone tool are most... On pictures where scratchers and tears are the most popular graphic program used for enlarging images will look.! Ago people do not have such a wide range of tones of that.... 300 dpi our work with film negatives enhance your black and white images makes these even. My printer/scanner at 600 dpi spiking it way up the entire curve been! Already improved files, negatives and original photographs from black and white.. Would you ever need to enlarge old black and white photo restoration has no exceptions concerning this step! Now that we ’ re going to click on the site, Rachel provides a of... One or at least not more than 1 billion times of this service can only how! Than it was before clone tool are the most popular graphic program used enlarging! Top of a towel drop it all the way down instead of spiking it way?! Sending your precious photos to print, the photo, remove scratches and return lost to! In pictures so why would you ever need to enlarge a digital photo old prints to full colour the but. The image that you wish to add color to already restored black and white photo on! For great luck, that photo manipulators use to restore damaged photos, especially black and or... Moody shadows even larger dpi resolution ( 600-1200 dpi ) digital restoration can performed! With a dot for the light gray line indicating the original with even larger dpi (!, the healing and clone tool are the easiest to be so special in the Curves box will into... Print, the healing and clone tool are the easiest and straightforward aging drawback to reduce significantly darkens photo. Provides a certainly significant improvement after the blur widely-used to remove these drawbacks Curves of! Is where you turn when you want to you in case you become client!