How to Restore Old Photos to Their Former Glory with Photoshop

Old photographs are precious time capsules, capturing moments frozen in time. Unfortunately, age, wear, and tear can diminish their beauty. Photoshop offers a powerful arsenal of tools to restore these cherished memories. With a little patience and practice, you can breathe new life into old faded images. By following the right steps and tips on how to restore old photos in Photoshop, you can effectively eliminate scratches, stains, and color fading.

How to Restore Old Photos in Photoshop with Neural Filters

Photoshop's Neural Filters offer a powerful and efficient way to restore old photos – Photo Restoration feature. The feature can dramatically repair damaged images in Photoshop with just a few clicks, including image enhancement, face enhancement, and scratch reduction. Here’s how to restore old photos in Photoshop using the Neural Filters.

Step 1. Import Your Photo

Open your old photo in Photoshop.

Step 2. Duplicate the Background Layer

Create a copy of your original image by duplicating the background layer. This preserves the original in case you need to revert changes.

Step 3. Open the Photo Restoration Filter

Navigate to Filter > Neural Filters > Photo Restoration.

Adjust the sliders for Image Enhancement, Enhance Face, and Scratch Reduction to achieve desired results. Try different settings to find the optimal balance.

Step 4. Use Healing Brush and Healing Spot Tools (Optional)

For more precise control over scratch removal, use Photoshop's Healing Brush and Spot Healing Brush tools. These tools allow you to target specific areas, preserving details like jacket buttons that might be lost with the Photo Restoration filter.

To combine the best of both worlds, apply the Photo Restoration filter's lighting and sharpness enhancements without enabling Scratch Reduction. Then, meticulously remove scratches using the Healing Brush (for larger areas) or Spot Healing Brush (for smaller spots). Remember to sample a clean area by Alt-clicking (Option-click on Mac) before healing. You might need multiple passes for stubborn scratches.

Step 5. Colorize Old Black and White Images (Optional)

Photoshop's Neural Filters offer a quick, AI-powered solution for colorization. Just go to Filter › Neural Filters › Colorize to add color to old black and white images in Photoshop. Adjust the saturation slider within the filter for a more natural look.

Tips: Manual colorization is an option for greater control, but it's time-consuming. Standard photo adjustments like brightness, contrast, noise reduction, and smoothing can be applied. Focus on restoration rather than artistic enhancement. For instance, you might need to carefully add color to specific areas using tools like the Healing Brush. While the results won't match professional-level restoration, they can significantly improve the overall appearance of your old photo.

Step 6. Save Your Restored Old Photos

Once satisfied with the results, save your restored photo in a suitable format (JPEG, TIFF, PNG).

Read more: How To Upscale Old Low-resolution Photos in Photoshop

How to Restore Faded Color Photos in Photoshop with Color Tools

While Neural Filters excel at overall restoration, you might need to fine-tune colors manually. Photoshop provides AI photo colorizer tools to enhance faded color photos.

Step 1. Open Your Photo

Import the faded color photo into Photoshop.

Step 2. Duplicate the Background Layer

Create a copy of the background layer to protect the original. To duplicate the background layer, either drag it onto the "New Layer" button in the Layers panel, or right-click on the layer and select "Duplicate Layer" from the menu.

Step 3. Adjust Colors with Hue/Saturation

Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Fine-tune the colors by adjusting the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders. Target specific color ranges using the Master, Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues, and Magentas options.

Step 4. Enhance Contrast and Sharpeness

Use the Levels adjustment layer to adjust the tonal range. Target shadows, midtones, and highlights to improve contrast and detail.

Apply the Clarity filter to enhance midtone contrast and detail. For a sharper image, use the Unsharp Mask filter cautiously to avoid excessive noise.

For more precise color adjustments, consider using the Selective Color and Curves adjustment layers. Make subtle adjustments to avoid over-processing.