Hi, Richard.

I have a number of old VHS that I converted to DVD, some personal, some old TV programmes. The quality of the DVD versions is very good, but you can tell (from the slight "grain" and plasticky halos) that these were once on VHS.

I'd like to make passable looking "digital" photographs from the stills, so that you can't tell they were originally taken from video.

My results so far have been lamentable, but I'm sure there must be a way to clean up these images, so that they are as crisp and clear as any ordinary digital photo.

Any suggestions you might have would be very welcome.

I use CS1 (can't afford to upgrade) and The Gimp.

Best wishes,

Alan, England.

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Answer from Richard Rost:

I could spend hours and hours giving you tips on cleaning up old photos. In fact, I have a tutorial on my web site that's an hour long that explains it:

http://599cd.com/site/courselist/photoshop/photoshop201/?key=BlFAlEx

The more work you put into the picture, the better it will look. You can apply filters, and remove scratches, and all kinds of things.

Going over all that here, however, would take me a while. :)