Any freeware \ trial programs for touching up pics?

[BandofBrothers]

Hey guys, I have loads of old scans and pics from my dads old photo collection.

Most of them are black and white and look a bit worse for wear (some are going sepia, and are a bit grotty)

I currently have an old copy of paint shop pro 7 installed, which is quite easy to use, for trimming the grotty borders off, and automatic balance to restore the photos to "true" black and white again.

Are there any other noob friendly apps that you would recommend? (I am no expert at this lol)

Thanks for any help :)

[mgboy]

Maybe you could post some of the better/more important/more memorable ones up for peoples help? I'd help out if I can find the time. I'm sure there are others that can do that sort of thing.

I can't think of any other freeware things other than PSP, but you could try your hand at a CS2/3 trial.

[Langaleer]

You could try PAINT.NET or GIMP.

We offer them at work as free alternatives for those that dont really need to use Photoshop/Paintshop Pro

[bitsnbytes]

I found Picasa to be a great app for touching up my thousands of photo scans. It sounds like it would be well suited for what you are trying to do. It can remove color banding and contrast issues as well as setting a picture black/white sepia etc. It can also crop, straighten, & rotate pics. Most fixes are done in 1 click so its very easy. For more complex issues like removing scratches, paint.net or gimp are your best bet.

[mgboy]

You could try PAINT.NET or GIMP.

We offer them at work as free alternatives for those that dont really need to use Photoshop/Paintshop Pro

Ah I forgot about GIMP, but I hadn't heard of paint.net. These are kind of a step below PS though, but if they work for what you're trying to do - all the better. [thumbup]

[Bi0hazarD]

Photoshop Express is a minimalistic edition of Photoshop, and you can host your photos there, as well as upload and edit photos anywhere, anytime.

https://www.photoshop.com/express/index.html

EDIT: just out of curiosity I checked GIMP's screenshots and it looks really good as a freebie, and that's coming from a PS CS3 user.

[BandofBrothers]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../photo0206.jpg

Here is a really old pic of my dad and my bro, its a pretty messed up photo.

I am interested to see how good you guys can get it[thumbup]

Thanks for any help, and sorry for the late reply to the thread, appreciate the help and advice :)

[mgboy]

Here's my poor attempt. I'm not very good at photo restoration, more-so manipulation hence why things aren't green and.. real. But I gave it a whirl.

(I say just B&W the picture. That's taking the easy route though.)

[mgboy]

Is anyone else gonna try, who actually does restoration and has more than 30 minutes?

I'll try again tomorrow BoBros. I've got some free time.