Thelma wanted to create something special for a relative in america and between us this is what we created. There were 7 old photos, in black and white and some in colour that all needed to be restored before we could make them into this wonderful collage. In Photoshop I increased the contrast and clarity of the main colour photo and created masks for the inserts. then in separate layers I added the restored black and white photos to the collage. This has now become a unique and treasured gift. PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

This is a wonderful video form 10 years ago that really does show the value of photographs and the emotions and value that they possess. It sums up why I value and enjoy the photo restoration work I do at PixelFIX. How many of your photographs from the past 10 years still survive today in this modern digital age?? If anyone would like to know how to best keep, protect and share their photographs I am happy to help and I'm offering FREE advice to anyone who asks.  

This photo has some bad pen marks spoiling the look of this family favorite. So I removed the pen marks using the heal and clone tools in Adobe Photoshop. Then I restored the contrast and vibrancy of the colours. The photo now looks restored and ready to be enjoyed again for many years to come.  PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

This is a quick and dirty tutorial on making a mask from a single colour channel in Photoshop. Below is a B&W photo that needs some restoration, it has some bad damage on it. Most of the damage is the redish discolouration. So in order to fix just this area it would be real handy if we could make a mask of just that area so we can correct it. Fortunately there is a way. Step 1. Use the channel mixer adjustment layer to highlight which channel has the damage, using the red green and blue sliders. Step 2. Switch to the channel palette and copy one of the colour channels (doesn't matter which as the image is now B&W.) Step 3. Make the copied channel a selection.  Step 4. Apply this selection as a mask to any adjustment layer on your original image.  PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

Colour photos can be affected badly by age or by breaking down of chemicals in the paper. Sometimes the easiest and most inexpensive solution is to turn the discoloured photo into black and white. This method if used correctly and with some careful use of the channel mixer adjustment layer in Photoshop, will remove the discoloration and give an nice evenly toned black and white image. Like the example below. This Photo is from   PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

I'm always on the look out for new tips or new sources of information to help improve my photo restoration and photo retouching skills. www.retouchingacademy.com is a Photoshop teaching website that has lots of useful tips and lessons in how to use some of the powerful tools that Photoshop has to offer. PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

This is what Santa brought me this year, a wacom intuos pad. This will give my photoshop work for re-touching and photo restoration, a bit more control and I'm hoping it will save some time during some photo restorations.

Summer time has started with a bang in Auckland and it is hard to concentrate on photo restorations when the beach is calling. But here is a recent photo restoration where i repaired the missing part of the image with parts form another photo.

Saturday and still got my head down working through a pile of photo restoration work. Repairing damaged wedding photos for a customer who has rescued a pile of prescious family photos from certain death.

I'm currently in the process of updating the PixelFIX website. Its about time it had a new coat of paint and hopefully we can attract a few more visitors. I have also moved over to weebly to complete this new makeover.

This photo was sent to me by Keryn for restoration last week. I believe it is a photo of the first T&T Childrenswear store. The image has been badly faded and has also been in contact with another surface that has left a patterned shadow on the image in some places. I was able to remove the patterned marks using the stamp and patch tools in Photoshop. Then I had to paint in the missing areas that had faded away. A difficult task but I am pleased with the final result, the photo looks 100% improved and is able to be enjoyed once again. Thanks Richard received they look great. - Keryn  PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

This photo sent to me by Suaree was to be used for a headstone, but the resolution was too low and there was too many blemishes for it to look nice when enlarged. So using Photoshop I removed the blemishes and corrected the colour. I also interpolation the image to increase the resolution and give the headstone people more pixels to work with Suaree was very pleased with the results and I was happy to be able to assist. Hi Richard, thank you for your work. I love the result and yes we allow you to use our image in your website. I am also going to be sending you another job. We are very impressed. - Suaree PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

Leslie from Australia sent me this sad looking photo in need of some drastic colour restoration. The image is old and has discoloured badly turning everything a sickly shade of green. Using a photo filter adjustment layer I was able to remove 95% of the colour cast in one hit. Photoshop magic, love it.  PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

Whilst the rest of New Zealand was lost in rugby fever, Alex sent me this very sad looking photo hoping to get a clearer view of the house and people. The image was very small and lacked detail. even once contrast was restored the image itself was out of focus and blurred. But non the less with the help of Photoshop the final image can now at least be recognised and enjoyed once more. "Hi Richard, Looks good, thanks" -Alex PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

Been a little while since my last entry. Seems that there just isn't enough time to do everything in life. Who knew!! But here is a lovely photo that I Nicole sent me. It needed some restoration in Photoshop to repair the damage around the hair and also some colour balance changes and improvements to the contrast. Thanks Richard! - Nicole. PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

This has to be one of the most satisfying restorations done to date. The original was torn into many pieces and required extensive Photoshop work to be painstakingly pieced back together. The original scan was the key to making this a successful restoration and invisibly repairing the ripped pieces into one full image again. PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

This is another photo from Ryan who had a number of badly damaged photos that seemed beyond repair. But thankfully we were able to do a full restoration on them, using Photoshop,  for future generations to enjoy. PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

I have been incredibly busy this last couple of weeks with new work and new hours. Also had some amazing restorations come through. This one from Ryan was from a batched of ripped photos. I will post the others soon. PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

Chris had this badly discoloured old photo. It had a ribbon over the corner that has made a different discolouration. There is also part of the shoulder missing and needed replacing. Below is the before and after. PixelFIX - Photo restoration and photos repaired, from $15. The restoration and manipulation specialists. Click here for 'fancy view'

I posted this image a while ago now but today I thought i would add some explanation to my restoration techniques. I  always work in a non destructive method within Photoshop. The ability to work in layers means the original image can be left at the bottom layer for reference and all changes can be reversed. If you spend time making a good scan then it pays to make sure you can revert back to it at any time. So what layers do I use?  Well firstly I make a copy of the background layer. This enable me to run filters that can not be reversed such as dust and scratch filters. Above that you can see a clone layer. This is where all that obvious damage is repaired. Above that again is the dodge and burn layer. I do not use the traditional dodge and burn tool available in Photoshop. I prefer to use a soft light blending mode that can be adjusted and reversed if necessary. Next we have adjustment layers. These provide adjustment to the whole image, or just part...