Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Academy/Image restoration
 | This page is part of the Military history WikiProject's online Academy, and contains instructions, recommendations, or suggestions for editors working on military history articles. While it is not one of the project's formal guidelines, editors are encouraged to consider the advice presented here in the course of their editing work. |
A few words before diving in. Restoring images is not for the faint-hearted: it can be a time-consuming process, taking anything from an hour or so for simple restorations to work spread over a day or two for bigger jobs. That said, if you're willing to spend the time on it, then great! Read on.
You may also wish to consider visiting the Wikipedia:Graphics Lab and/or the Commons:Graphic Lab where experienced image editors may be found to advise and assist you. One may also post a request there to have an experienced editor work on an image for you if you'd prefer to delegate the task.
Getting an image to restore edit
If you've already got an image that you want to restore, then skip this section. If you don't, then there are several ways to get one. Possibly the best site is the Library of Congress[1], which has a huge collection of public domain images which can be freely modified and uploaded to Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons. Not all of its collection is public domain though,[1] so check before you start restoring it.
Software edit
You might already have a program like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop that you can use to edit your image; but if not, you're going to need one - the chances are that anything that came with your computer isn't really up to the job. This doesn't mean you have to spend money though; the GIMP[2] is a very capable image editing program that has everything you'll need, and best of all it's free.
Starting the restoration edit
So you've got your image that you want to restore. If it's a photo the chances are that it's covered in dust and scratches, or if it's a print it's probably suffering from serious discoloration. What you want to do with it will depend on exactly what its problems are; what's below is a rough guide - if you think you don't need to do something, then don't do it.
You'll need to save your restoration-in-progress regularly to avoid losing it - it can be incredibly frustrating to lose an hour or two's work because your computer crashed! When you're saving it, try to use a file type like PNG or TIFF which doesn't reduce the quality of the file as it saves it.
Photographs edit
Dust and scratches edit
The GIMP
In the GIMP, the clone and heal brushes are next to each other at the bottom ot the toolbox, with the rubber stamp and plaster/Band-Aid icons; you can set the source by Ctrl + click.
On most photographs, this will be where you spend most of your time. The idea is to repair areas of the photo which have been damaged by replacing them with copies of other areas. The clone brush, present in all three programs mentioned above, simply copies and pastes from one part of the image to another. You have to set a place in the image to copy from, and choosing a place is the trickiest part of using the clone brush; try to choose a place which has about the same brightness as the part the dust spot is covering, or the sudden change in brightness will be very noticeable. To set the source in the Gimp use Ctrl + click; other programs use Shift + click or other combinations.
The GIMP and Photoshop also have a tool called heal brush, which works in a similar way but automatically compensates for brightness changes so you don't have to be quite so picky about the source. It's not infallible though, so be prepared to resort to the clone brush if it gets it wrong.