Mary Gets A Makeover
Submitted by My Viewfinder Blog
Occasionally, someone will bring me an old photo to restore. I enjoy being able to bring a faded memory back to life through the magic of Photoshop. And that’s what it seems like to the people I’ve done this kind of work for: magic! Of course, it’s not really magic, it’s basically just number crunching going on inside a computer, but the results still seem magical to the owner of the photograph.
Recently, I was asked by a friend at church to restore this photo of “Mary”, a relative who sold apples in the Fall here in the North Carolina mountains. The date on the back of the photo was 1914. I should say photos, because the original photo was mounted on a heavy cardboard, and was now in two pieces, a top and bottom half. (Click on photo to enlarge.) The size of the photo was approximately 7.5 x 9.5 inches, not counting the brown carboard it was mounted on. My mission: make one photo out of two, and clean up 94 years wear and scratches.
I don’t own a flatbed scanner, so I began by photographing each piece separately with my Zuiko 35mm macro lens (70mm equiv.) attached to my Olympus E-510. After downloading the files into my computer, I adjusted each RAW file to the same settings in Adobe Camera Raw. In Photoshop Elements 6.0, I matched the two files (top and bottom halves) as closely as possible, using a third blank layer as a background. I had to try to account for the small amount of missing photo at the location of the break to make a smooth transition of lines from top to bottom. Once I was satisfied that I had the two separate images lined up and spaced properly, I flattened the three layers. Then it was simply a matter of filling in the missing part of the photo using the Clone tool. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much intricate detail to reproduce in the area of the break, so I just had to concentrate on making smooth transitions from top to bottom. Most important was lining up the edges of Mary’s clothing, arm, and apple basket. Any “jaggies” in these areas would be an indication of a poor quality restoration.
After the cloning over of the break was completed, it was time for some cleanup. First, I used Curves to improve the contrast of the faded original. I know, Photoshop Elements doesn’t come with a Curves tool, but a very good one can be easily added from easy.Filter. I then adjusted the color to more of a true sepia tone since the original had faded, and now had too much yellow. Next, I superimposed a grid over the image, and I went over it section by section at 100% magnigication with the Healing tool, getting rid of spots, scratches, and any other damage I could find. My goal was to get it as clean as the original print might have been back in 1914.
To finish up, I added a dark brown mat with a drop shadow around the photo to approximate the look of the original. When I was finished, I thought Mary looked pretty good for her age after her “makeover”. (Click on photo to enlarge.) The owners of the photo were thrilled with the results, and that just added to my enjoyment of this project.
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