Photos like the one above are somewhat typical in respect to what one would normally find when asked to do digital retouching from an heirloom photograph. It is teeming with dust, scratches, creases, tears, dark spots and worn edges. What is more difficult, in this instance, is the fact the the individuals in the foreground were completely cut out from the rest of the family, or vice versa, as if they were ex-communicated, in a sense.

Repaired, the family is now intact. Without going overboard, smudges and other fragments have been effectively removed while contrast, saturation and clarity were intensified. The most challenging aspect of this photograph was the missing parts – the quarter inch gap and missing arm rest on the woman’s left and all the way around her spouse and child where someone had cut them out, literally.

The tools and techniques involved in retouching this photograph were:

1. Clone Stamp
2. Healing Brush
3. Various Custom Airbrushes
4. Filter – Dust and Scratches
5. Image – Adjustment – Curves
6. Filter – Sharpen – Unsharp Mask