photo restoration

New Stuff

2011-12-13T11:09:00.000-08:00

So I haven't updated in a while. I have had some jobs, but nothing that was really original that I hadn't already put something up. I finished these two jobs about a month ago, and thought they were some good examples of my work.

Big One

2011-07-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

I just completed an order of an old photograph that had a lot of damage. After doing a volunteer for DUP, they have asked me to do some more work. This one definitely tested my skills. It's amazing for me to go back and look at how far I've come since I started.

Old Photos

2011-06-15T12:41:00.001-07:00

I recently did some volunteer work for the DUP (Daughters of Utah Pioneers). There were 3 photos, but two were especially difficult, which I am posting here. This first one didn't have too much damage, except for a tear right along the center of the face, which with the light hitting it, made it even worse. I used some different techniques and tried to recreate how the face probably would have looked.

The second photo I worked on had a lot of scratches on it. But what made it even worse was the fact that the picture had some damage that prevented it from being taken out of the frame. So I had to remove both the scratches and the reflection in the photo.

New Life

2011-03-31T10:53:00.001-07:00

A client ask me to fix up some family photos, including this discolored and faded black and white photo of her mother and uncle. She was so excited that in addition to a restoration (eliminated the oval discoloration from the frame and enhanced the contrast) that I was able to colorize a version and give it new life. She was thrilled that she will be able to get this "new" photo printed and put back into the original 5x7 frame.

Retouch and Manipulation

2011-03-31T10:30:00.000-07:00

My cousin was recently baptized, and her brother had taken some photos of her in her new dress. Her mom asked if I could fix the wash-out in the one and also change the background of the other. I think they came out pretty good.

Grandpa's Photos

2011-02-25T17:17:00.000-08:00

I recently fixed these photos of my grandfather that had been torn and damaged. My parents are making a book about his life and wanted to use the photos, but not in their damaged state. It always feels good to be able to give new to life to damaged photos that hold memories and meaning.

Scratched and Torn

2010-11-22T13:33:00.000-08:00

I just completed my newest photo restoration assignment. The pictures were both heavily damaged, so I repaired them. First, I scanned them (several versions, since some come out better than others) and then worked my "magic" on them.

Photo Manipulation 2

2010-11-15T11:04:00.000-08:00

This is one of my first photo manipulations I did a few months back. The client had a family photo, but had two stepsons who that weren't in the picture at the time. Sadly, they never were able to get everyone in one big family photo, as the husband and a couple of children had since passed away. She had a photo of each of them that she wanted to add in with everybody else. This was the result that I came up with. It made her really happy to be able to have a photo that included her entire family.

Photo Manipulation

2010-11-15T10:59:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of my sister riding her new scooter. My mom wanted a photo of her "riding off into the sunset" for a special project. But my sister is pretty impossible to tie down, so the picture was taken earlier in the day. Using Photoshop, I manipulated the picture to depict shadows, color, and feel of a sunset. I then actually added a sunset into the sky from an image that I found online. So now my mom has the photo she wanted.

New Stuff: Old and Glass

2010-11-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

I having posted much lately so I decided to update with some photos I did a little while ago, but never posted. These are from two different clients.

The first one is one of the first ones I ever did. It was in old convex photo glass from the late 1800s. I took a photo of it since the photo could not be removed and scanned, and then repaired it.

This second photo was one of the more difficult ones. The client had a this photo in a frame and covered with glass. Somehow some water or chemical stains leaked through the frame. So it stained the photo. The problem was that the chemical made the photo stick to the glass, so the glass was not able to be removed. The dark spots on the original are where it is stuck to the glass, and then you can just see some other stains where it didn't get stuck. I had to take a photo of the picture with the glass on it, so you can also see a slight reflection of me in the original, too, as I took the picture. So I had to go ahead and edit it all out, including my reflection, and make it look like a print, and not behind glass.

News and December Wedding Retouching

2010-10-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I better put up some new stuff I've worked on. First off good news, I am graduated from college, and can focus more on my restoration now. I just completed a project for a client who had about 60 (out of 300) photos from a sunny, December wedding that they wanted touched up. The photographer had taken them, but because of unforseen circumstances, he never got them touched up and relocated elsewhere, so I finished the work. Some were rather simple, while others were quite complex. Here are some of the complex ones to show what I can do.

New Post

2010-05-30T20:12:00.001-07:00

I wanted to update with a new photo I just finished for someone. It was a picture from the late 60's that had become sun faded and turned into a blueish hue. I was able to go in and restore it, and gave it a colored/vintage look. After a few changes, she said it looked just like the original and was glad to have this important wedding picture repaired.

Client Story to Old Photograph

2010-04-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

I did a project recently for a client that had a nice backstory to it, and thought I would share it with you. A client gave me this small snapshot. Besides the obvious damage to the picture, a face is obliterated by the crease lines. This photograph happened to be one of only three of her grandmother, and the only one at a young age, so it had great sentimental value.

Using a photograph of her grandmother's wedding, I reconstructed the face trying to make it match how she would have looked when she was younger in the picture. I also took out the other crease marks and "horns" coming out behind the her head.

She was amazed and very pleased with the result and could hardly wait to send a copy to her brother.

More Examples

2010-03-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to update with a few more examples of my work. I will continue to post more samples of my work this week and as I get new projects.

The works here are an example of contrast correction in a faded photo, and a color photo where I was able to paint better color into it. I can do this for some black and white photos. Also if you (for example) have a red shirt in a family picture with
everyone wearing blue, I can change it to match.

Family History Fair

2010-03-06T16:30:00.001-08:00

Today I attended the Family History Fair in Bountiful. I had a great time and met a lot of new people. If you were one of them it was lovely to meet you and I hope you had a good time. I will update this blog regularly with more work I have done in the past and currently. If you have any questions or comments you can e-mail me at mwphotorestoration@yahoo.com or call me at 801-390-9138 and ask for Melissa or Debbie.

Thanks!

First Post!

2010-03-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

Ok. Welcome to my blog. This is the first post of some recent work I did for a friend of mine. This is an old photo that got ruined from water, age, and other damage. Here is the before and after: