Fave actions/textures for old/bad photos?

[pkstew2]

What are you favorite actions/textures to use on old photos where the quality isn't that great? Also what about those more current photos that are maybe a little blurry or just not 'right'? I use PSE 6 and am quite the newbie to this but i have lots of pics I'd like to use for the challenges but they're just not 'quite right'. Thanks, Kim

[ColleenSwerb]

Nothing fixes blurry. Ever. You can sharpen the bajeezus out of it in an attempt to fix it, but you end up doing more damage than it's worth. I don't use bad photo's, and I've gotten better at deleting them. Yes, there are a handful that I keep because I really WISH I had gotten it right, but otherwise they get deleted.

I don't fix old photos. They are what they are, they capture the moment/time, and that's that. Sometimes I'll convert to black and white or sepia, and that can help it out, but otherwise I don't mess with them.

I have more new and awesome photos than I know what to do with, I don't waste my time with bad photos, or old bad photos.

[pkstew2]

Thanks Colleen that's good advice

[ColleenSwerb]

Anytime! I was worried I sounded too harsh, lol.

[jessica31876]

I dont care if the quality is bad if it is a photo of an important event like a birthday or something. I just do the best I can with what I have and sometimes I dont get any great photos of those really important days. The best thing I have found for those not-so-great photos is to either convert it to b/w or to try cropping it to make it more interesting.

[scrapperjade]

I have a lot of slightly off pictures, some I caught while laughing at my daughter's shinanigans (sp?). But a lot of time I can't bring myself to delete them because the memories are more important to me than the "perfection" of the shot.

In those cases, I convert it to black and white, and maybe add a soft blur to it. It makes it look more "on purpose" than it just being a blurry shot, you know?

Example - I loved these photos of my daughters hands holding my dads thumb when she was just days old. But the lighting was bad (nightime & indoors), so they turned out like crap. I just played with them until I had them looking decent, and used them anyways.

[Jenn Barrette]

I agree with Jessica, sometimes the photos suck, but it is an event I want to scrap or a memory that I am happy to at least have a photo of. I usually make the photo fairly small on the page, and then add in lots of journaling or do a more white space page. A bad photo looks a little better small IMO. Making them black and white can help to.

These photos are super blurry, but the b&w makes them look better -

[pkstew2]

Wow thanks for the great tips ladies - keep 'em coming and I love the examples too!