Photoshop question

[Scott Shepherd]

I have a photo of my Dad from when he was a small child. All of the photos I have of him have that texture on them. I have scanned them all, and I'm trying to figure out how to touch them up in a way that removes all the texture from the media they were printed on. While some might appreciate a "fresh" print of the same old textured photo, I'd like to try and remove all the texture.

Any Photoshop gurus here that can lead me down the right path?

I have PS CS4.

Here's the texture I'm talking about :

[phil harold]

Gaussian Blur
despeckle
noise
filter
copy layer flip 180 degrees and adjust opacity

remove too much and you loose detail in photo

fun fun

[Scott Shepherd]

Thanks Phil! You lost me on the flip layer 180 part. I've got about 45 minutes experience in Photoshop to this point. I followed the rest of it, but got lost there. Can you explain it a little more,please?

Thanks-

[Tim Morton]

You made it further than me:)

I have 15 years experience using PS and i was lost at "Filter"...i didn't know which filter...*LOL*

I think he means Invert the layer....then fade it back to see if the dark aread that over lay the light areas will fill them in.

[Tim Morton]

Let me see if i can give you a little different solution.

Its a little trickier...but effective if you can place the 2 images together.

Scan it twice...but for the second scan rotate the picture on the bed of the scanner 180 degrees.

Then bring both scans into one photoshop document (after rotating the second scan 180 in PS so they are both top up.
You can use layer opacity to help see the two layers and move then around so they are both in same place. it will require some fussing to get them to overlay perfectly.

Then find the layer options "drop down" and change it from normal to darken....and see if that is any better.

Sorry if this is confusing...but it will work. By scanning it twice you are getting the the scanner to light both sides of the ridges..then using darken you are averaging the two densities.

[David Keller NC]

Scott - One other possibility. If you've a DSLR, take a photo of the photo with a tripod and a circular polarizer. If adjusted correctly, the polarizer will remove a lot of the reflections from the surface of the print. Ideally, you want to use a long lens for this shot - in the 80mm range. That will drastically reduce pincushion distortion in the final image, and the CS4 Photoshop tools will get you the rest of the way.