I've been asked to restore a photo

[ssray]

The mother in law has asked if I can restore a pic of her grandad, no negative available and only a badly faded picture
Normall I'd use Picasa and let it do it, this is quite a bit further on than I normally deal with
Thanks in advance for your help
Ray

 

[woof woof]

Golly.

I've copied quite a few old pictures but there's not much to work with here is there?

All I could do was try and equalise the brightness from top to bottom, try and give it some contrast and try and tidy up those blotches. If you could get hold of the picture you could make a better copy of it.

 

[Box Brownie]

The picture posted is of it in its frame, not great for the purpose you ask about.

However....... beware!

If your MiL or yourself take it out of the frame you may find it is stuck/adhering to the glass (or plastic) glazing.

Whatever you do.... DON'T try to peel it off if it does not simply fall off by itself, as doing so would likely damage it even more than its current faded condition. NB even if it does just fall off, it is possible that there might be a slight ghost image on the glass anyway?

If it is stuck to the glass......try to get a better copy picture by minimising the reflection and should/will provide a 'better' starting point.

FWIW there are some very skilfull folk over at DP Review retouching forum who colourize or "smudge paint" to very good effect.

 

[ssray]

Thanks very much
I left in the frame just incase
Going to have a look this afternoon

 

[ssray]

Thanks for the advice, I got it to this, think she will be very happy with the results, going to print it out tomorrow
Thanks again
Ray

 

[Meomyo]

Much better, we can see his beer now!

 

[mark richards]

you done a great job considering what you had to start with.

 

[ssray]

Thanks and to think I nearly paid someone to do it