70's color photos

**sbartist** · 05-18-2007, 10:23 AM

I have color photos from the 70's from when we lived in Hawaii and they have faded. The image is still there for the most part, but I would love to restore some of the brightness of the photos. Anyone have any DIY suggestions?

Thanks.

**sbartist** · 05-18-2007, 10:23 AM

I have color photos from the 70's from when we lived in Hawaii and they have faded. The image is still there for the most part, but I would love to restore some of the brightness of the photos. Anyone have any DIY suggestions?

Thanks.

**bitaglitz** · 05-18-2007, 10:35 AM

Bonnie,

My photos had been stored in those sticky-backed albums and it is the glue that has caused the photos to fade and turn greenish yellow or orange-hued.

When I had a new Epson photo printer, it had a program that could restore them to a state that was acceptable...not perfect...but improved to the point that the photos could be easily seen. Some were restored to the point where I could scrapbook them.

There must be other programs out there that do the same thing.

Judy

**Leen** · 05-18-2007, 01:19 PM

I'm hoping when I get to my older photo's (and gawd I don't want to think about my childhood photos as "old") that PhotoShop Elements will help brighten up faded shots.

**illinimom** · 05-18-2007, 04:12 PM

I've had reasonably good results from scanning then photoshopping. For the most part, the colors look nice, but everything is kinda out of focus. Probably partially the old instamatic cameras, partially the photographer, and partially the matte finish on the photo that was scanned. I glossy may have worked better.
Since I never tossed a negative, presumably SOME day I will find them and they hopefully will be in better shape.

**Big Kahuna Grandscrapper** · 05-18-2007, 04:32 PM

you could always scan them and as a super cheaper alternatice to using a photo editing program, us the contrast and brightness adjustements in word to try to touch them up a little.

Maybe you can scan them and print new photos on new paper, but keep the faded look. This way they won't fade any more than they already have and they will still maintin that older faded look which may look nice on your pages.

I have a some photos from many years ago that have a sort of dark red / maroon hue to them and I think they look really nice even though they probably don't look as good as when they were new.