Originally Posted by PrimoGen

thanks


there is a lot more Photoshop offers beyond the clone tool for fixing photos.

This example is not the best because of the amount of grain in the OG pic. the texture has crept in to the hair and skin of the subjects.

here is a list of the tools I used to get what I have above:
- levels (needed on most images to balance or adjust lights and darks)
- clone tool (for fine cloning, not used to recreate large areas of texture)
- image masking (selective and repairable erasing between two layers)
- histogram (more fine tuning of lights, darks and midtones)
- healing brush (critical tool for cloning while keeping the original texture beneath the brush

I could write and entire paper on the techniques and usage of these tools but I wanted to give a perspective on what is out there for you guys to toy with.

Photo restore can get super pricey when done professionally. If I had a high res of that photo and wanted to do it "right" there would be about 8-10 hours involved. it would look as good as the day it was made. Just like everything in life you get out what you put in.

Plus, doing this kind of work is enjoyable