Photo restoration

[Pauline]

Well folks yesterday was a very busy day for me. I worked very hard at restoring a picture taken in 1954. I didn't think I was going to be able to fix it, but I'm pretty pleased with the results. It's from a lady I visit at the old age home. She came over from England on a ship and this was her only picture. The original is only 3.75 x 3.75, so the shot on pixentral is larger than the original was.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=145mDAUYIzE2tD9DlvAVa9TvnBE4Jz1

[GaryK]

Pauline

She must be pleased. Looks great.
I'm guessing she is the little girl? Too bad about the person to the right .. her father?

[willpresley]

Pauline after getting such good results you needn't self-doubt what you are capable of -- I am really impressed with the results of the picture and you made it whole and everything.

I'm sure the Lady will be very appreiative of your accomplishment.

[Jodi Frye]

Pauline, you are one in a million...I'm right next to ya tho ;) for doing this for her. Great Job !

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

Nice work :) ... I am sure that the lady is going to be delighted with it!

I see that the ship she emigrated on was the Saxonia ... one of the Cunard line's ships. She was brand new in 1954 ... here is a link to her history:

http://www.maritimematters.com/leonidsobinov.html

Wendy

[willpresley]

Wow, Wendy that is some kind of history -- and all from a photo that needed restoration -- NEAT!!!!

[Pauline]

Gary, she is actually the lady on the boat and those are her two kids. The man was a stranger which is why she ripped the picture. She is quite the woman. She drove one of the tanks during the war! I spend a lot of time chatting with her and truth be told, I was itching to try out the picture and see what I could do.

Wendy, I already beat you to it and looked up the history before even starting on the picture. I am considering doing a collage with the boat on it and maybe print up the history for her. I found a few other pictures too and some coloured paintings, but my favourite is the black in white which is more in with the times.

I have to say that the part that made me the happiest about doing this was that "I just did it." I didn't even think about it. The things that needed to be done just seem to flow without looking up any information or trying to figure anything out. That in itself I consider the biggest sign of how far I have come with this program!

I did read Katrin Eismann's book way back when, but I think it's time to look at it again with more understanding eyes!! So much that didn't make sense back when I got it, probably will now!

We have a small historical society here in town and I have even considered contacting them and seeing if they need any restoration work done. I really enjoyed it!

Thanks all for your comments. I'll be bringing the picture to Joan probably Wed., and I'll let you know what she thought.

[GaryK]

Pauline

I guess the story I made up in my mind wasn't right :lol: :lol:

My grandmother used to get mad at the TV when she was here from Germany. She couldn't speak english at all, so when she watched TV she would make up her own story, and get mad when it ended wrong. :lol:

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

Sometimes when you are working on an image it just seems to capture all your attention and goes well. I guess this was one of those images for you ...

Its a good idea about the local historical society .. I did a lot of images for the village where I used to live hard work but very rewarding :)

Wendy

[bwolford]

Pauline, did you try a look at this with a slight sepia tone?

I think you did a remarkable job and you should not doubt your capabilities ever again!

Great work.

Brice

[MikeH]

Pauline,

I'm sure Joan will be very pleased with it. I've restored a few pictures for relatives, including some that were the only pictures of people now passed away.

Seeing the reaction when someone sees a precious photo restored makes all the effort worthwhile.

Mike

[Pauline]

Brice, I was going to try a sepia version too. I really like that look. Right now it is I think very close to how the original picture looked and that was my first goal.


Mike I know she will be thrilled. She is a crafty person like myself, so she had no doubts that I would be able to fix it for her, and of course she really had nothing to loose as the picture was in such bad shape. During our therapy visits, this is the one person that we spent the most time with.

At Christmas I make little wallet size pictures of my dog and hand out to the residents and they are so thrilled this year hopefully I can come up with something extra special with PSE help! We've been going there for 2 years now and many of the rooms have 2 pictures hanging up on their walls of Shilo from the two cards I made.

[Wendy]

Pauline ..

... I sure that this year you wll be able to lots of new things for Christmas ... :)


Wendy

[JennB]

Hi Pauline,

Great job! I'm sure the lady you did this for is very thankful. :) That is really nice of you to do that for her. This is a great way to keep memories alive!

[virgo1]

Pauline,

What you did is amazing. Preserving memories and history. Wow!

Eva :wink:

[Pauline]

Thanks Jenn and Eva. I have to admit, I didn't just do it for her. I did it for me too. I was itching to try it out as it presented quite a challenge. I've also grown quite fond of this lady and we have lots of chats each week when I visit. I know all about her 'children' and she knows all about mine, and of course we are there to give her her dose of doggie love which is what therapy visits are all about. It's very rewarding for all. (the dog gets too many dog cookies!)

[Wendy]

Pauline ....

When are you taking the photo in for her?

Wendy

[Pauline]

Wendy our usual visit day is on Wed. I would like to do something with the ship too. Maybe a little montage with it in the background. I haven't played around with it yet. Maybe that one I'll do in sepia tones.

[Jodi Frye]

Pauline, I wasn't sure if i should say anything....but i was thinking that perhaps the sepia wouldn't be such a great idea. I know that us Photoshop type people enjoy adding tones like this but I'm not sure an elderly person would appreciate it as much...they have drawers full of sepia photos..ya know ?? I think a nice crisp new black and white might be a little more ' new ' to her ?? I don't know, it was just a thought that occured to me. I love what you are doing and I'm proud to know someone like you.

[Wendy]

Jodi ...

Know what you mean about the sepia tones ... the sepia photographs that people now have mainly became that colour as they aged so often older people do prefer the black and white ones :)


Wendy

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

Nice idea about making a montage and using the ship ... if you think about it she probably hasn't seen an image of it at all.

That could be so nice for her ... another thought is a scrapbook page about the ship :)

Wendy

[Pauline]

http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/foryou.gif (http://www.millan.net)

Jodi. Thanks.

You are probably right about the sepia. The black and white is so crisp and the thought did cross my mind that her picture was already yellow looking (I just like the effect). I've concidered doing one of each on a 4 x 6 since they fit. I really can't enlarge to photo to fit 4 x 6 as there isn't a lot of detail so I was going to keep it the original size.

A scrap book page is a nice idea Wendy but she really doesn't have much room and she has this little album in her bedside drawer so a 4 x 6 would be idea to put in it.

I guess I'll see what I come up with after doing today's lessons. I appreciate all the advice and wonderful comments from the both of you. You opinions are valued and I have learned a lot from both of you.

[Mary]

Hi Pauline - I love your project! You are adding a lot to her life with a more vivid photograph of her perhaps dimming memories.

When you scanned the photo did you enlarge it during the scan process? I have had some success doing that and I would love to hear how others go about it. :)

[Pauline]

Hi Mary and thanks for you comments. Nothing dimming in this old gals memory!! She's only in there because of a car accident that left her needing some help. SHe's very sharp.

I admit that I just set the scanner on scan and that's what I got. I just got the printer and truthfully it was the first picture I ever scanned, so I haven't explored what options there even are. It doesn't look too bad on screen at a larger size and actually the size at pixentral is far bigger than the original 3.75 x 3.75.

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

Do let us know when you have taken the photo to her :)


Wendy

[Jodi Frye]

speaking of scanning...had to scan an image 3 times this morning cause of dust and/or pet hair !!! GRRRR By the third try I broke out the windex and grabbed one of my good dinner napkins ( the ones that stay hidden in the pantry until we actually have company for dinner cause they are too nice and expensive for everyday sloppy kids) and I cleaned the scanner glass and prayed that i didn't leave any lint behind. Then finally managed a scan that was almost clear of foreign debris. I was also scanning at 600 which tends to pick up every little spec. All I can say is thank goodness for the spot healing brush !!

[Jill]

Nice job!

[Pauline]

I brought the picture in today and she loved it. How could she not? :lol:
One bad thing though, was that I did a collage with the boat behind, wrote Voyage to Canada and put their names on. Stupid me......Her daughter's name is Frances and I spelt it with in I!! I didn't even think of asking her how to spell it! Thankfully the file was saved as a PSD so I changed it when I got home and will print another copy for her daughter with her name spelled properly!! And for the record, Joan is 85!! I couldn't believe it! She sure doesn't seem like she's 85. I also have her permission to use the before and after for advertisement if I ever chose to actually charge for this kind of work. For now it's all in fun.

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

Oh that is so nice that she liked it ... pity about the name but at least you are able to change it easily. Happens to us all ... I once sent in an entry to Grant's Challenge and spelled Challenge wrong :)


Wendy

[Pauline]

The worst part is that the thought did cross my mind about spelling and I didn't ask her how. Just figured I knew. Very dumb and a needless mistake! When I paint something I ALWAYS ask for correct spelling even on easy names, but with PS it's so easy to correct mistakes that I guess I just was careless.