Hello...My friend gave me a couple pictures of his Uncle and Dad that he wants me to scan, fix up, and print for framing to hang on his wall.  Both have passed away and I want to make the best prints.  Of course I would want to make the best prints possible regardless...   Anyways,  in this picture of his Uncle we were thinking of replacing the background with something else like a nice scenery or perhaps something madeup in Photoshop like some difference clouds?, and maybe converting it to black and white.  I thought I'd post the picture here and ask for suggestions because I could use some...please :-) .  And if you feel like it please manipulate this photo.-
Have a good day..-Jeff

p.s.  I am aware that 300 dpi is optimal print resolution in most cases...but what about scanning?  I scanned these photos in at 300 dpi.  This makes for about an 18 MB tif file for the initial scan...I am thinking this should be more than sufficiant for an 8-10 print.  Or should I scan at a higher dpi...

I cant see the picture.

For scanning an 18MB file (approx 6MP) should be suficiant for an 8x10 print, in my experience though, I think it is better to scan larger thab you need and downsize as required.

I can't see the picture either!  I can't get it to upload...I clicked "attach file" and selected the picture when I posted...hmmm lol sorry...could someone please help?

cool..thanks Simon I will probably rescan larger...

hi most cool jeff!! :0)) all i know is the image attached still has to be under 200kb.. & then it could be those darn pesky gremlins acting up again :P peace

let me test this  and see about the  image

Jeff I think perhaps your file size might be over the 200k limit.
Keep trying.Let me know if it still does not work.

Hi, When I scan old family photos I scan at a minimum of 600 dpi, sometimes 1200 dpi. Yes the PC nearly dies at this but much better for touching up and then down size for print as Simon stated.

 

Steve

I agree Steve. Scanning at  the max you can sure makes all the lines and deficiencies seem les.
I also put in a few of the photos on the sanner bed, so I can get more out of one scan.

Here it is...it works now.  Yay! :-) ....  Hello cynlee...how are you? :-) ...I didn't do anything different this time.  I do remember seeing something about an SQL error so perhaps there was an SQL error.  Anyways this is the picture of Larry's Uncle that I need to fix up and print out.  As I mentioned above I was thinking about changing the background and maybe making it B&W.  Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and please feel free to play with the photo.  Thanks :-)

Hey Doug...very nice looking photo

Oh My.... That is not going to be easy but do-able. Looks like a full straight on flash. Changing the background might be a good idea but not easy on this picture around the back of the head. Also the jumper will require 'toning' down a bit and the flash bounce back on the face.

Good luck, sorry but I have not time a the moment to play with it, but I'm sure others will with their potato-shop skills.

Steve

Mmm, second thought, try re-scan at the highest setting your scanner will go, and crop the shot tight around the face and start from there.

Steve

Thanks for the suggestion.  I like your idea about re-scanning/cropping tighter around the face.  It probably would look better cropped around the face.  It does look like he got hit with a pretty bright flash.  I will probably try to lighten up some of the bright areas with the burn tool.
You are right about it not being easy around the back of his head because it pretty much blends into the background.  I already tried selecting with the magnetic lasso and had some problems with that part.

i converted the image to LAB mode and messed with the Lightness channel to get a selection that looked about right...saved the selection and re-opened the original image...pulled the new selection in and modified the background...then i messed around with the face to get a good color saturation (in my view anyway)....reduced the contrast a bit created from the flash...and cropped it ... the suggestions you've gotten from others about scanning in at the highest resolution your machine will take and reduce it to what you need in the end are right on.....and then the important thing is to get the correct selection of the individual....once you've got the selection the way you want it you'll be able to change the background and the selection anyway you want.... good luck.

i like what you did here.  Looks much better.  I esp. like the way you cropped this.

doing good jeff :0)) making plans to visit up around your area, might move there..

ok.. gave it whirl.. would go with a tighter crop too..
less shirt to deal with... plus the Epsom photo print logo is showing through..
& added a bit to the top as it's too tight there
added a blobbed whirl background with a gaussian blur..
do work large.. feather your selection & smooth the edges
then flattened & converted to a bluish tint b/w
& agree with the highest quality scan possible as you have some banding here
..maybe the hairline will show better too.. i think i gave him a bit more.. lol..
& remember to match the part of the glasses that shows through with your backgd

I was gonna have a go at this, but I believe Cyn has totally nailed this already, and I don’t know what a bobbed whirl is either!

If I was doing this sort of shot in a studio I would choose a background similar to what Cyn has done here anyway. I might be inclined to leave it in colour and do one of each, I still believe that there is no real substitute for B&W film in some respects.

 

As Steve said this isn’t an easy photo to fix, and I agree that scanning a min of 600dpi , 1200 even better, best still scan the negative if you can. The real issue here is that prints don’t scan well compared to negative or slide. (IMO of course)

 

Either way it is always better and easier to work on large files

That would be my vision

interesting thread here.... and excellent shots too

Thank you everybody for taking the time to share your suggestions.  My appologies for taking so long to respond..I like what you all did here.  I will have to borrow a few of your ideas here.