Help restoring old photo

[markp]

My grandparents have asked me to bring some old photos back to life. I'm having trouble working on a few of them...

These shots are only about passport sized, and I'm trying to see if I can get them reasonable-looking in a 6x4 print.
However, the paper the originals are printed on has a wierd texture, which is really evident when the pictures are scanned at a high dpi.

Here's an example:

...and close up:

How can I remove this effect? I'm working in CS2 and I'm struggling to remove the pattern without losing too much detail.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[Jimmy_Lemon]

hmm not sure about how to get rid of that

Does it show up badly when you print it?

 

[markp]

It's really obvious on the originals, so I presume it'll be as bad when I come to print it. One of the photos is of real sentimental value to them, so I'd like to try and do the best I can.

 

[mjc7uk]

I am sure the marking pattern is part of the paper, there is little you can do about it, other than finding a way to smooth it over.

Require some of experiment to try find a way...have fun!

 

[rayfin]

This is pattern is known as moire (with an accent on the 'e'). You need to use the Descreen option in your scanner software.

Ray

 

[markp]

Is it any use in having a sample of the texture pattern on a blank edge of the paper surrounding the photo? Can I filter using this as a sample?

 

[CT]

This is the actual texture of the paper on which the shots were printed. Avoid textured papers like the plague if you ever intend to scan them - you can't avoid just the result you're getting there. Use gloss or matt papers which scan really well. Moire is a different thing entirely.

The reason the texture of the paper shows so badly in this shot is that it's a passport sized small pic so the texture is larger than usual.

All you can really do Mark is scan the whole print to about the proportionate size of your crop version or larger and do the retouching at that size. If you then print at 6X4 the texture should be at least acceptable. Any cropping of the image as in your second version will only lead to that texture becoming more visible so I'd stick with the original format.

You could try photographing the snap in as flat a light as possible which sometimes yields a better result than scanning, but it's not guaranteed. A lot of pro labs just wont look at restorations on these textured prints.

A long shot - but any chance they still have the negs?