Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Time Travel Tuesdays ~It Just Takes Some Time...

Photoshop is amazing. Rachel taught me how to do the basics last summer as I embarked on my journey through roughly 140 years worth of family photos. I have scanned all of my mother's photos up through the 1960's and have now been able to touch up most of them. They are discolored with age, flecked with dirt and ink marks, bent, torn, and some are missing chunks! As I have tackled more challenging "fix-it" jobs I have learned even more about photo repair. I am not a pro by an means but I am pleased with most of the results. For example, I give you one of my most challenging jobs yet:
I love this picture of my Dad and me. We are just chillin' on our cool 50's sofa. Dad is most likely watching T.V. while I consume a little bag of Fritos. (So this is where my obsession with Fritos began!) The photo is discolored and has ink damage. Zooming in you can also see thousands of little white flecks that are probably caused by years of sliding around in a box of photos and losing some of the photo surface.


With one gliding "crop" click I can remove the white outer margins. One more click of the "auto color" button and...Ta Da!

You can see here the color restored pretty well. I have also taken literally hours with the spot healer brush and the clone stamp to get the white flecks out of the curtains. sofa, and out of my father and I. I have come down to tiny details now. I am not sure how I am going to fix Dad's socks. Maybe it doesn't matter that much? My lap is all spotty too. A few more hours clicking and maybe I'll be happy. It's not the best repair job, but it helps. Notice the sheet on the sofa? This was my Mom's answer to covering the whole thing with plastic! It kept the cushions clean but we were always having to tuck it back in. When company came you could just yank the whole thing off and you had a nice sofa underneath! Genius! Oh, and that shiny black thing on the arm of the sofa by Dad? Just give it a glance and what comes to your mind immediately? Remote controller? Cell phone? No, those were not around in 1959. What is it?  I wish I knew!

My clicking hand goes all numb and tingly after a short time at the computer these days. I am re-visiting my osteopath, Dr. Valton King (who grew up in my Aunt Naomi's ward in Mesa) to get my neck adjusted. You should have heard it crunch yesterday!

And seriously, the Frito thing? My kids will tell you that I DO NOT buy Fritos, EVER! I cannot stop eating them! They may beg one Frito casserole out of me a year but I must gain five pounds munching on the salty little chips while I am putting the dish together!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I will still be sitting here just clicking away................

5 comments:

Helen Ellsworth said...

Mari I was completely blown away by what you did to the photo. Now i am wondering how many I have thrown away that could have been fixed. I am sure I still have some. I wish I could come and stay for awhile and do your house work while you work on them.. I can never pay you enough for what you have done. I still have more here. Does that make you groan. Oh and by the way. Did I send the book that I started scrap-booking in? I was looking for it the other day and couldn't find it. Love you

URFAVE 5+A Few said...

That is marvelous! I must take some lessons from you! I do not have this technique down and could for sure use some pointers!

I love that photo. It's so sweet!

Thanks for sharing!
JoLynn

Terry and Emalee said...

Seriously your osteopath is Val King??? I used to babysit for his children...you'll have to say hi for me and tell him I have 6 of my own. :) Thats awesome that you know how to do that with the photos. I want to learn. Will it damage the photos to scan them?

Terry and Emalee said...

you can respond to me btw on facebook if thats ok.:)

Gena said...

Fritos do not last long in our house AT ALL! I think I can safely say that between Emily and Mom they can polish off a bag in a day!

As for the shiny object? My money is on a tape measure. Or the shiny corner of that wallet he used to have.