Rejoining two parts of a ripped photo into one?

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2019-11-14 03:59:44

Is there a simple step by step tutorial showing how to take a ripped photo, one in two pieces, and rejoin them into a single intact picture?
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2019-11-14 13:56:20

Hi David.
I don't know of any tutorials off-hand (I'd be doing a web-search, same as you to find them) but here's my quick thoughts.
1. Do what you can in the real world. If the two halves are easily aligned by hand and taped on the back before scanning then do that first. That leaves you with one image to scan and the two halves are already aligned and mostly fixed.
2. Scan with the best quality that you can. Pay attention to things like squareness. If your photograph has solid square edges and your scanner allows you to push that square edge into a corner, use that. It'll help align the halves later (or keep the single photo square if you've already repaired).
3. Import into Pixelmator or Pixelmator Pro (whichever you use). If you have two images, layer them as you would in the real world – you know which half goes on top.
4. If you scanned as two images, use the Smart Erase/Magic Erase* tool to remove all the bits of each layer that aren't there in real life (bits where the scanner scanned its lid rather than the photograph). You don't need to do this if you repaired in the outside world.
5. Align the two layers. You don't need to do this if you repaired in the outside world.
6. Merge the two layers. You don't need to do this if you repaired in the outside world.
7. Use the Repair tool to remove the tear from the layer.
8. You may need to adjust the colour/contrast of the image. A scan of an image is typically higher contrast with a lower dynamic range than a scan of a negative or image from a digital camera. If you're printing out the final image yourself, now's a good time to do a test print and compare to the original.
9. Post back to the forum if you get stuck. You might want to create a new post rather than jump in on a discussion of vector illustration tools in Pixelmator Pro, though. :wink:
Hope this helps some.
- Stef.
*Personally I'd use selection tools and mask but, as that's its own tutorial, stick to Smart Erase/Magic Erase unless you're already comfortable with using masks.
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2019-11-14 15:23:05

Stef's steps are spot on but the specific actions really depend on the rip and the photo itself. If you'd rather not share it, I'd suggest trying the steps and getting back to us with whatever you get stuck on. Or you could also post the photo and that would maybe let us provide more specific steps if the photo is recoverable.
by st3f 2019-11-14 13:56:20 You might want to create a new post rather than jump in on a discussion of vector illustration tools in Pixelmator Pro, though. :wink:
I've split the topic off into a new one and moved it to the Pixelmator Pro forum to make it easier for anyone else with a similar issue to discover it. :ok_hand: