Photoshop Elements 8 Tutorials - Elements To Restore And Repair Old Photos

By David Peters

Beginners adobe elements video tutorials

Photographs are the best tool we have to relive our cherished memories and remember loved ones who are no longer with us. Unfortunately photographs don?t age well and over time their quality diminishes. Because photos are printed on paper they are often affected by things such as handling, light, moisture, dust, and scratches. Regrettably, these things can ruin our photos and prevent them from lasting through the generations.

Too many people are faced with the question of what to do with photos that haven?t withstood the test of time. Do you wait until they are no longer visible or do you simply toss them? If you are facing questions such as these you don?t have to do either. Using Adobe Elements you can restore your old photos to their original condition.

Since photos are on paper and Adobe Elements is a computer program how then will you manage to use the program to restore and repair your old photos? Well the answer is you have to convert your photos to a digital format. You do this by scanning your photos such that each photo can be saved as an image on the computer. Once you have scanned the photos you are just one step to restoring and repairing them.

Once you have opened your photograph inside your photo editing program I recommend that you create a copy by clicking on the file menu and selecting save as to rename your photograph. I recommend this so that you have a backup image on the off chance that you make a mistake. Once you have done this vital step you can begin to edit your photo using a few of the tools available. The tools I will talk about are the ones in Adobe Elements.

Photo restoration doesn't require any specialized training or specific skills. All the tools are easy to use and you will quickly become adept at them. The most common tools used in this process are the smudge, blur and sharpen tool.

I am going to give you a breakdown of each of the tools and how you can use them to restore your photographs. The smudge tool is helpful when you want to eliminate any scratches that are on the original photo. You can also use the smudge tool to remove any object in the background you wish to eliminate as well as correct photos that were not properly focused.

The next tool you can use is the blur tool. The blur tool allows you to add tone to photos that have been lightened by the sun; in essence you are making them darker. Using the blur tool you are adding color to retrieve the brightness of the original photo.

The final tool that is used for this process is the sharpen tool. If any parts of the photo are blurred, whether it is in the original photo or from scanning it in, this tool will fix those bits.

Keep your cherished memories alive and well, restore them using Adobe Elements.

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