Restoration


While at the July 4th picnic, my Aunt Nell gave me this picture that she found literally stuck to a drawer. She had not seen the picture in ages and really forgot it existed. She brought it to me to see if I could save it. It was taken in 1946, when my great Uncle James, who passed away in May, was stationed overseas. That is my Aunt Nell and my great grandparents. Here is my first rough draft at restoration. It is a difficult process because it was torn completely, was many different shades and had many, many cracks and wrinkles. So far so good! I love a good Photoshop challenge! **Update: 2nd method worked much better than the first !!! The first edit, for Photoshop folks, was the healing tool, which produced a more blurred, less detailed edit. The last one, I used the patch tool, the clone stamp as well as a paint brush or two- to restore more even color. I put a black and white filter on it and it looks great!

As far as the scan, I just have an all in one machine (printer, scanner, copier.)- BUT the key to scanning is in the resolution setting. Bu default, most scanners only scan at 75-150 dpi...maybe 300. I change the dpi to the HIGHEST possible on photos that I intend to edit- this one was scanned at 1200 dpi! That makes a HUGE difference in your zoom capacity and editing capabilities. The original file is HUGE (9 MB in this case....)! After editing, I resize for ordering prints or other uses.
There is your computer nerd TIP for the day!!!
Got any photos you need restored, enlarged or cleaned up?
Let me know!
I LOVE IT!

Comments

Emmalee said…
WOW! Great work!!!!
Hewy Nosleep said…
That is a really good job!
Dullbert said…
very cool Charnita... just this week I was looking at some of my mom and dads old photos from roughly the same period they are all in pretty good shape. My question is what are you scanning these with ? They look really good ! my attempts at scanning have been so so.
My family is still in awe of the picture you did for me of my husbands grandmother and her sisters. Amazing. I do have some. I need to collect them and I will call you.
Terri said…
You did an amazing job! I spent one summer doing that for my family and my husbands family. I gave all the older relatives the restored photos and now when I visit, I see my artwork all around their homes. I loved doing it and they loved receiving them.