For this project, I chose an old photograph of my late great-uncle (my grandmother's younger brother), who passed away far too soon. I do not know the exact year the photograph was taken, but I believe it was sometime between 1960 and 1965. The photograph was covered with dirt and marks, so I carefully cleaned it before scanning it.

In Photoshop, I retouched the remaining dirt spots and scratches. I worked mainly with the Spot Healing Brush Tool, but I also used the Clone Stamp Tool, Healing Brush Tool, and Patch Tool where necessary.

As a final step, I converted the photograph to black and white. I used two Curves adjustment layers because I wanted to deepen the darker areas without affecting the rest of the image. Using separate adjustment layers gave me more control over the final result.

BEFORE

AFTER

 EDIT - adding High Pass filter