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Photo
Restoration
It used to be that "a picture tells no lies", but with modern
computer technology and software such as ADOBE photoshop, it
is now possible to create and manipulate images like never before.
One of the big markets
to develop in this area is photo restoration. Regular photos, being traditionally
sensitive to light, fade over time, and as they are
handled, they become wrinkled and damaged.
BEFORE
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AFTER
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Take the above photo of Don Bradman & Stan Mcabe taken
at Holbrook in 1933. The photo was taken by my wifes'
Grandfathers' Brother - Uncle Aubrey Lawn, using an old box
brownie style camera and after 70 years the photo has become quite
brittle and damaged.
BEFORE
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AFTER
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These 2 photos really are the same photo. IT appears the flash either didn't work or didn't
throw enough light on the subjects. The view was also partly obscured by the 'gondola' they were in,
so it was simply removed.
These remarkable improvements resulted from using several editing tools, but
mostly one particular tool from the Adobe Photoshop toolbox - the Clone Stamp tool:
With the clone stamp tool (formerly known as the rubber stamp tool), you can
copy, or clone copies or a portion of an image and paint them
onto any other part of the image. The size of the area copied
depends on the brush size you select from the brushes pop-up
menu on the tool’s options bar. How the copy merges with the
new area is determined by the choices you make on the options
bar.
In order to cover up cracks in a photo, we simply
used the clone stamp tool to copy a part
of the photo, say immediately near the crack but in an
un-damaged part of the photo, then copied that part of the
photo over the crack. This is much easier than trying to
match the colours and pixel patterns and allows for variations in light by using other parts of the
photo that have the samoe variations. Sometimes the pasted result doesn't fit so a smudge or blur
might help it to fit.
You will notice also that in the before shot of bradman, the bottom half of the image has a grey tone while
the top half has a red tone. To compensate, the bottom half was selected and the colour
balance was adjusted by increasing the red colour levels.
Mammoth Technology can restore your old photos, or you may prefer to give it a go yourself. If you need
training, contact us for more details on how we can help you.
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