Photo Restoration - removing dark fingerprint lines and other stains

[nermie]

I have a scan of an old photo that is heavily marked by dark fingerprint lines. Is there a way in photoshop to remove these lines without changing the detail and underling color. I have tried using the Spot content aware healing brush, but this is slow and tends to lose detail by smearing things out. I have also tried using the Remove Dust and Scratches filter with the History brush lighten but this also produces a less than ideal result. I find with many of these old photos they can get either dark or milky stains which are hard to remove without just smearing everything out, even the clone and patch tool are not much use in many cases. Can anyone suggest a different technique from those above. Attached is an example of the image marked by fingerprints.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

»Is there a way in photoshop to remove these lines without changing the detail and underling color.«

What detail or underlying color? 

I think as the image is basically a tinted monochrome you may want to start by determining the least affected Channel and work from that with duplicates set to Darken or Lighten and painting on Layers with Linear Light Pattern Overlays. 

[nermie]

Thanks for posting this. I am not familiar with this technique and have tried to follow your example. When I have all layers selected I only see a highly monochrome image. What pattern did you suggest and which layer are you painting on? Also, what have you done with the curves layers and gradient map layers. I think I need a more step by step description to truly follw what you have done.

Thanks

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I painted on the Layer named »paintbrush« and the Pattern used in the Linear Light Pattern Overlay is a monochrome Add Noise on 50% Gray (and upsampled a little). 

The Curves Layer edits the luminance and the Gradient Map Layer (set to Blend Mode Color) is used to colorize the monochrome image (which uses thhe blue channel for all three channels). 

[nermie]

Sorry to pester you again with this but I am still having some difficulty in emulating what you have explained. I am attaching screenshot file as I am unable to upload a psd file in which I have tried created and mimic your screenshot example. However there are a number of differences that I do not yet understand. E.g.

My curves 2 mask does not appear to be the same as yours and I am not sure why
With all layers selected, my image is now totally Monochrome, whereas your example still shows the original color tint with all layers checked.
When I use the Brush to paint on the paint layer (using White) it shows as White Strokes (exaggerated example in file)
The Mask on Background copy 2 is totaly black, painting on the Paintbrush layer has no effect.
The Pattern Overlay Pattern I have used is Noise (64x64 pxl) RGB mode at 50% opacity. I could not find pattern called Monochrome Add Noise on 50% Gray.

I appreciate your help in this matter and are keen to improve my Photoshop skills and hence want to understand what I am not getting right here.