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I have been trying to restore my parents old slides and they all have discoloration due to mildew and mold. How can I fix the discoloration with elements? I was able to find one video on youtube with a similar problem but couldn't really undertsnd the steps. https://youtu.be/LKyVYyMc8pM
I'm attaching one of the pictures I'm trying to fix as an example.
Would greatly appreciate the help!!
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I don't claim to be an expert on retouching photos, but since nobody else has stepped in here, I'll give you some options. I do claim to be bilingual in English and American, so I will also try to tranlate the video that you linked which, I agree, is difficult to follow. 😀
So, the main technique in the video to remove the color spots is to paint over the spots with the colors of the neighboring pixels and to use a Color blend mode to make them disappear. For your photo, here are the basic steps to take:
There is a lot of texture on the purple priest's robe on the right hand side, so simply using the Color Blend modes doesn't work so well. Here, you should probably use the Clone tool to replace the spots with nearby portions of the robe. First of all, create a new blank layer, make sure it is selected, and then start cloning. You can do the same with the pink dress.
For some of the more defined spots, you can also use the Spot Healing tool. For example, with the blue dress on the left of the photo. Again, create a new empty layer and select it to make the changes with this tool. And make sure the Sample All Layers box is checked.
Here is a before and after of some of the changes I was able to achieve using these techniques. Since I am not sure of your experience level, I have probably left out a lot of details. If you need more assistance, let us know.
In case you don't know what I'm talking about with layer Blend Modes, here is where to look:
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I'm extremely grateful for the time you took to explain it all. I'm still a beginner to Photoshop elements and will try following the steps you showed. This is a project I'm trying to accomplish and I know my parents will greatly appreciate it when I'm done. Thank you again!!!!
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You're welcome. Let us know how you get on and feel free to ask any further questions. There are many different techniques that can be used to restore damaged photos.
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If you know of any videos, websites, books, anything that can help me out would be great. I found a lot of videos on restoration of photos but nothing on this specific problem I have with my photo slides. And all the ones I have, have the same type of damage.
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I have tried the technique but I get either blotches of color or the stains change color but are still there.
I see on the video when he's painting, the stains completely vanish. I can't get that affect.
I'm very new to Photoshop so maybe I'm missing a step.
Would really appreciate any help!
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luizinho45 said:
I have tried the technique but I get either blotches of color or the stains change color but are still there.
I see on the video when he's painting, the stains completely vanish. I can't get that affect.
You need to make sure that the color you are picking to paint over the stains matches the color of the material underneath. You may also have to play around with the layer blending mode depending on the color of the original photo versus the stain.