Looking for help

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sawman

Private James Frazer
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clydesdales.jpg

Looking for a bit of help here as i am not very good with photoshop.
The pic is of my late father & was probably taken with a box brownie or similar.
I have some other old pics that came out of his bothy kist dated 1938 so suspect this was taken either late 30s or early 40s.
Father & I did not talk much during his life.I am the "black sheep" of the family but I still think I would like some memory of him.
Any way I can improve this?
 
Hi Sawman, I've had a quick go, I adjusted Levels slightly, a little bit of Shadow/Highlight, a bit of clone stamping to get rid of some of the spots and then sharpened four times using a small amount at each stage. I then did a selection of your fathers face and sharpened once more.

It's about the best I could do as the original is very soft but I do enjoy trying to bring these old photos back to life.

clydesdales.jpg
 
That's extemely soft and very grainy - typical of a lot old snapshot photos. I don't think it can be substantially improved beyond what Colin has done there. As it stands it's a genuine photo and a real photo of your dad. It's easy to do far too much and lose the integrity of the photo.
 
Thanks anyway for trying. I had got pretty much the same when I had a go.
Father as you can tell was a ploughman (ploomin) on many farms around Angus in his early life. He loved his heavy horse. I remember when he was retired I took him to a working day at a vintage fair. He managed to get a wee go with the horse & plough. Made his day.
Kinda wish I had not been so much of a black sheep & had talked more to him. Too late now
 
Thanks for trying folks believe me I appreciate it.
Susane some would say you have overdone it but I am taken by it as it now looks more like a painting.
These and some others were all I have of father. I rescued them from a bonfire mother was having when they were forced to move from the glen after 38 years due to fathers failing kindeys.
Wish we had spoken more.
 
Thanks Sawman :) I'm here to learn, I may have another go as I like these old photos. I have a few of my own family that needed restoring and my brother did them.
Here's a favourite of mine that still needs some work, my grandfather (bottom left) and his siblings taken in 1915.

Grandad-1.jpg
 
They look very serious, but I guess it was the way they had to pose then.
Have another crack at my pic anytime.
 
Thanks. Think that will be as good as you can get it.
 
Long shot but do you have a neg or just a print?

A good scan of the neg should produce a better result - but only if you have the neg - I got lucky last year with an old much cherished print, an Uncle had a biscuit tin full of old negs of the right bunch of bruisers I'm half desended from (some with Clydedales and other heavy horses as they ran a coal business in Glasgow - best Roses in town too ;) ), one day I'll scan them all, but it will take me more time than I want to think about.

Do cherish the prints you have regardless of any faults they may appear to have, they are valuable to the family as they are.
 
N1ntend0 said:
Long shot but do you have a neg or just a print?

A good scan of the neg should produce a better result - but only if you have the neg - I got lucky last year with an old much cherished print, an Uncle had a biscuit tin full of old negs of the right bunch of bruisers I'm half desended from (some with Clydedales and other heavy horses as they ran a coal business in Glasgow - best Roses in town too ;) ), one day I'll scan them all, but it will take me more time than I want to think about.

Do cherish the prints you have regardless of any faults they may appear to have, they are valuable to the family as they are.
Click to expand...

Yes I have the negs.As I as not that hot with photoshot I took them into my local Jessops a while back & asked if they could help. They came up with the idea of just making 7x5s which I could then scan at home. It was about at this point that I gave up on Jessops!
The pic I put on the thread was a home scan of a 7x5.
 
Here you go. Lots of dodging and burning, little sharpening (as too much sharpening will look too crunchy and digital), and some selenium-like toning to separate the midtones from the shadows.

That said, I would definitely take the neg to a good custom printer (Robin Bell is worth his salt for sure) and have a fiber print made. I'm willing to bet there's far more to work with on the neg than what's shown up in the 5x7 print.

- CJ

clydesdalesvs3.jpg
 
Sawman,

You'll get a much better result from the negs - given the sentimental value if you were nearer I'd offer to scan it on a one off basis (I can scan anything upto 6x9 at upto 4000 dpi at home and have occasional access to a highend Heidelberg 14x11 flatbed film scanner too!)

Another option is for you to copy the neg, assuming you have an slr and macro lens (a real one not a zoom lens that claims macro etc) - pop the neg on a lightbox and just shoot it and take it from there, vary exposure to capture the highlights as the digi sensor will catch the shadows no doubt.

Let me know how you get on.

N1ntend0
 
N1ntend0 said:
Sawman,

You'll get a much better result from the negs - given the sentimental value if you were nearer I'd offer to scan it on a one off basis (I can scan anything upto 6x9 at upto 4000 dpi at home and have occasional access to a highend Heidelberg 14x11 flatbed film scanner too!)

Another option is for you to copy the neg, assuming you have an slr and macro lens (a real one not a zoom lens that claims macro etc) - pop the neg on a lightbox and just shoot it and take it from there, vary exposure to capture the highlights as the digi sensor will catch the shadows no doubt.

Let me know how you get on.

N1ntend0
Click to expand...
Thanks. I have a real macro & I will try this.
 
Honestly, why?

There's truly no reason to lose quality by making yet another "original". Just have a good custom printer make you a print from the negative. Anything else WILL absolutely lose quality. Simply the truth.

- CJ
 
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