When Dyes Die

[dle]

The dyes in traditional color prints -- like Kodacolor or Fujicolor -- aren't entirely stable chemically, particularly when exposed to sunlight for long periods of time. As a result old color prints fade and shift color over the years, even if they don't get damaged in a natural disaster. In this photo, a great deal of the damage appears to be caused by the dyes dying. But then, to top it off, it got wet.



What approach should we take to such photos? Just removing the damage from the disaster wouldn't yield a nice result. In this case removing the crud, the water stains and the blue ink transferred from a photo stacked on top wouldn't be much of an improvement. But the dyes are pretty far gone, so recovering the original color from what's left is not so easy.

Here's my attempt, mostly using curves layers to try to put the dyes back the way they were originally:



Not perfect -- some information is just plain gone -- but a big improvement, and it does use the color info from the original. (I need to work more on the large yellow water stain in the center-right.) The only other approaches I can think of are to "colorize" it or to go grayscale. In this case, I'm tempted to stick with the approach I took. To me it looks more "authentic" than a colorized version would and preserves more of the original than a grayscale version.

Ideas, suggestions?

[Pat]

Dave,

I think the approach you've taken is the best way to go with this very difficult photo.  Amazing job and great explanation!

Pat 

[Mhayes]

Dave,

I agree and think you did a great job bringing back the color.

Margie

P.S. Cute title for this post.

[Bambi]

That's a good explanation of what happens to older color pictures. And a great color correction. If you did more than a standard color correction, you might want to share your technique. We have so many pictures like this and more coming, I'm sure.

Bambi

[dle]

Good to hear y'all think I'm on the right track with this one. I'm still working the water stain, but making progress.

Over the years I've  settled on on a color-correction technique for faded, color-shifted photos like this one that works pretty well in practice. And from a dye chemistry point of view, it seems to make sense, too. It starts by doing a basic color correction using a curves adjustment layer, setting the black point and the white point (but not a neutral mid-tone point) in the usual way. Use the appropriate droppers, if there are good targets, or do it channel by channel by eye if target(s) are lacking. Here's the result with this photo:



This first-step correction usually brings things much closer to the way they should be but leaves some distance to go. It corrects for the fact that each dye has each faded in its own peculiar way, but it assumes they have all faded linearly -- that each of the R, G, and B "curves" are straight lines. Sadly, dyes don't fade uniformly like that. So, add a new curves layer above the basic correction called "Dye curves" or some such. Adding a new layer makes it easier to focus only on the dye fading's non-linearity. Begin by choosing a mid-tone neutral point, either using the dropper, if there's a good target, or adjusting each channel by eye if there's not. Then nail down a neutral in the "shadow" tones. You'll need to do this on a per-channel basis. Then do the same for the "white" tones. Next, there's often a neutralizing adjustment needed right near the top of the curves below the white point. Finally, use the RGB curve to make any needed gamma and contrast adjustments. For this you'll usually need to drag the middle of the RGB curve lower and then push the whites back up a little so they're close to linear again. Here's what this photo looks like after that:



At this point you can clearly see the yellow stain from the water damage, which is a separate problem.

Next I generally turn to retouching. I do this on layers between the background layer and the basic color correction curves layer. The advantage of doing it on layers below the color correction is that you can go back and tweak the color correction layers without upsetting the retouching.

For the yellow stain on this photo I worked on layers above the color correction layers. Here's where I am so far with that.



I'm sure there are other equally effective ways of coming at the dying dyes problem, but this one seems to work pretty well for me.

[Pat]

She's looking beautiful Dave; the family will be so surprised at the results!  Thank you for sharing your technique; I can't wait to try it myself.

Pat