Photoshop Project 4: Photo Restoration

I was browsing Facebook last Friday when I saw this photo posted by a friend's sister. I felt inspired to work on it for the following reasons:

1. It's sad to see old photos go to waste due to deterioration.
2. I found the photo challenging to restore because a part of the mother's face is destroyed with the cracking.

So I downloaded the photo and edited it. These are the tools that I used.

1. Spot healing
2. Clone tool
3. Hue and saturation (lessening the yellow and adjusting the rest)
4. Levels

I was happy with the result and emailed the restored photo back to my friend and asked her permission to post the photo on my blog. Today, I got her response and permission to use the photo. Here it is:

Photoshop Projects 2: Restored Damaged/Old Photos

Here are some old photos that I have restored using Photoshop CS5.

I got this old photo online while I was looking for a photo to work on. I searched Google images to link where I got this photo but I couldn't find it anymore. Anyway here is the before and after of my work.

Here is another before and after photo that I edited for practice.

I would appreciate if you ca give me comments on how I could have improved the photos better. Right now, I really enjoy restoring old photos. If you want to get my service, I would love to do it for free if you will agree that I can post them on my site. :)

Review: BS.Player Free Edition

 

I have been using BS.Player for several months now. It has become my default video player on my computer. Over those months, I would say that BS.Player is worth considering if you're looking for an alternative free video player that does the job.

I will express my views as simply as I can as I am not very technical myself. These are views of an actual user. And coming from this point view, I only look for a few requirements:

• simple UI
• ease of use
• video rendering quality
• audio output performance

What I like about BS.Player

1. It downloads subtitles automatically when you open a video.
2. It can play 1080p videos better than VLC. My laptop however does not have the hardware that is capable of playing Full HD videos. Yet I noticed there is less lag and pixellation when I play them with BS.Player than VLC. So I conclude that BS.Player is better in that respect.
3. Installation is easy and doesn't come with other programs one normally gets when one downloads a free version.
4. It has a free version that doesn't expire in 1 month.
5. Plays different file formats.

What I don't like about BS.Player

1. It has the control buttons separate from the window (see picture below). This is a matter of preference. But I like having all the control buttons on the same window. To me, that means less clicking or shifting from one window to another. More convenience.

2. The volume can only be adjusted to 100%. Unlike in VLC where one can adjust the volume to 200%. So if the video you are playing doesn't have a very good audio, you might as well use VLC.

I know that a lot of people's go-to free media player is VLC. But just to have more options, BS.Player is one good media player.

Update: 01/31/2017

BS.Player free edition has the following features:

• Automatic online subtitles search, download and cache to hard drive
• YouTube streaming video playback (Normal resolution)
• Support for global multimedia keyboard keys
• Playback of AVCHD video
  (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) format used in Canon, JVC, Panasonic, and Sony digital tapeless camcorders.)
• Display videos directly on your Desktop
  (Windows XP and 2000 only)
• Custom playback modes (Repeat All, Repeat one, No Repeat, Random)
• Fully skinnable user interface
• Capture frame from video and save it to jpeg image
• Improved VMR9 support
• Customizable playback speed (0.1x - 6x)
• Frame by frame playback (Frame step)