Faded BW photo fix

[marciad5]

I have an old BW photo where only the top half is faded. The bottom half is still pretty good. Is there any way to do this?

Thanks, Marcia

[Ego Eram Reputo]

You might try something like this:

1. Open the image
2. Duplicate the layer :DuplicateLayer:
3. Press F4 and set the blendmode to Multiply - this has the effect of enhancing the tonal range
4. Now you need to remove areas that are over saturated. Working on the new layer, remove sections from that layer that result in oversaturation (too dark). The gradient tool with the mode to Transparent can be useful here. Drag the nubs around until you achieve a slight improvement in the disparity of the faded section. Don't try to do all the adjustment in one step! Just try to improve it slightly by evening out the tonal range.
5. When you're satisfied with a slight improvement, duplicate the top layer :DuplicateLayer:, and again, and again until the image has reasonably similar tones. Each successive duplication should improve the overall effect.
6. Fine tune the effect by selecting the top layer(s) and adjusting the opacity. Start with small adjustment steps.

That's approximately how I do it. Of couse there can be many extra steps if the faded area needs blending across more than one line.

Note: The faded section needs to contain image information. If its completely faded to white you can forget recovering anything

Posting your image would help us see what needs to be done.