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Even a dreadfully damaged print can be restored to its former glory with a few simple Photoshop Elements skills – James Paterson explains all

Repair and restore a drastically damaged photo to its former glory

Restoring an old photo is one of the most satisfying Photoshop jobs you can do. There’s something deeply rewarding about breathing new life into damaged ancient prints, so that they can be cherished for years to come. Whether you do it for your own family or as a favour to someone else, it leaves you with a glow as warm as the luscious sepia tones in these beloved old photos.

It might look like a magical transformation, but restoring a print to its former glory is usually quite a simple Photoshop task, even when it comes to fixing horrendously damaged prints like this one. The process begins with digitizing the print. A flatbed scanner is ideal, but if not then you can make an excellent reproduction simply by taking a photo of the print with your camera – just make sure that you light it evenly with two lamps at 45 degrees to the print.

Once digitized, you can get to work in Photoshop. Elements might be seen as Photoshop CC’S inferior little brother, but it has all the tools you need for professional results. With a fragmented print like this, the first task is to piece it back together like a digital jigsaw puzzle. This is easy enough using a combination of the Quick Selection tool and Move tool. First we select each piece and copy it to a new layer, then we use the Move tool to reposition the layers and bring the scraps back together.

Next comes the tidy-up job. Key to this is an understanding of the Heal and Clone tools. We use the Heal tool to fix spots, marks and scratches, then tidy up and replace missing details with the Clone tool. It may take a while, but the results are worth it.