YOU’LL NEED THIS
SCANNER, SOME OLD FAMILY PHOTOS
Also recommended: VueScan scanning software, Paint. NET, Photoshop Express, and VanceAI PC app
IF YOU’RE FORTUNATE ENOUGH to possess a trove of old family photos, then you’ll know that they rarely come down to you in the best possible condition. In addition to dust, scratches, and other blemishes, photos fade over time, becoming washed out and losing color. In an age where you didn’t have the luxury of instant review and unlimited second chances, many photos may be less than perfect—if not blurred or badly framed, then suffering from poor exposure.
If you have an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, dig out your copy of the January 2023 issue and follow Ian Evenden’s excellent tutorial on tapping into Photoshop’s increasingly powerful photo restoration capabilities. But Photoshop isn’t the only tool out there you can tap into to breathe new life into old photos. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to improve the quality of your initial scans to bring out as much original detail as possible, then we’ll reveal a range of tools to improve them further, from removing blemishes to correcting lighting and color problems. We’ll even reveal how to inject realistic color into old black and white photos, giving you a more vivid window into your family’s past.
