Asking for help in restoring a photo of my parents, for their memorial service
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AAARRRGGGG. I have tried, about twenty times, to resize this to put it in here. I am not having a good day.
Folks in the photo group - I need your help. This is my favorite photo of my Mom and Dad, taken after they were married a few years, but way before I came into the picture. See how in love they were before kids came along and took up all of their 'hugging' time? Lol.
Sadly, my beautiful Mom passed away in June 2012, and my hero in life, my Dad, he followed in December 2012.
It has just been a few short weeks since I lost Dad, and I have yet to cope with losing Mom. They were 93 and 94 years of age at their deaths. They had been married just shy of 66 years.
We are having a memorial service for them at the end of January. I want to put this photo in the remembrance folder at the church.
The photo is old, and has some scratches, some missing spots, and my Dad's forehead has some discoloration on it. I don't have photo editing software good enough to do this, or the skills. And I'm beat, trying to do everything that has to be done. I'm going to the cemetery tomorrow to make final arrangements. Both of my parents were cremated and Dad and I had decided to wait till he passed before we had a burial. I thought I'd have YEARS before I'd have to deal with this. Instead, it was six months.
So, wizards of wonder, can anyone make this photo look sort of new again? And, it is a weird size, not your normal 4 x 6.
I have to post this and run - to bed. Have to be up early to go take care of the details for the service. I probably can't get back
on DU till 4pm.
I want to thank anyone who can help me. I'm overwhelmed at the moment, but want to make things right for Mom and Dad's service.
So any help will be MUCH appreciated.
Thank you so much.
Dem2theMax
= new reply since forum marked as read
rocktivity
Here's my effort, hope it helps.
Here is my attempt. My goal was to clean up the major damage without removing the nostalgic properties of the old picture. This should give you an idea of what is possible if folks can get a high res scan to start with.
Last edited Fri Jan 4, 2013, 12:51 AM - Edit history (3)
It involves taking your picture apart piece by piece, and reassembling the newly colored layers back together one by one. Though it took a while, I had a lot of fun doing this, and I still have the editable PSF file if something isn't right.
If your mom's hair was a shade of brown, I can easily do that. I colored your mom's shirt to make it stand out, but if she hated yellow, we can change that to any pastel you want. I'll make it white again if you want.
I don't know if anyone noticed the wedding ring and the wooden case of what might be Miller and Black Label beer, with a black serving tray sitting atop. It's rested on another tray to catch the moisture in the warm weather. It must be a server's station. They really jumped out in the edit. That's your mom's right hand beneath the shadow of her left wrist:
You have beautiful parents, and it's true that I can see their love for each other in this wonderful image. your story touched my own heart. Though my mother died when I was rather young, their pictures are from the same era. It must have been a good time to be in love.
How I wish they were here to see this. That HAS to be Dad's wedding ring. He was a mechanic, so he never wore it.
He said he saw too many men injured because they wore rings and got their fingers caught on moving parts of engines.
I never saw Dad wear that ring. It is somewhere in the house. I know I will come across it one of these days.
I just looked at their wedding photo. Neither one is wearing rings. I guess they bought them after they married.
Now I can't even ask them about that! They knew each other ONE week, and Dad proposed. They married at the end
of the second week. That is what being in WWII will do to you. They were both veterans.
Here is a photo of Mom, showing her true hair color.
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That was her glamour shot. She rememberd that she had that photo taken especially for my Dad.
(I never noticed it till just now, but right under one of Mom's eyes in this picture, there is distortion. Anyone want to fix that too?
I'd be so thankful. How I missed that for all these years...must be something you only notice when it's on the computer.)
Dad's hair was brown.
And the photo was taken at my uncle's place. He had a ranch in Wyoming. If my Dad and Uncle had anything to do with it, beer had to be somewhere close by, for long, hot days.
My Mother's favorite colors? Yellow and green. I even have that in her handwriting. Not making this up.
I could swear you made her pants a green color.
I'm sitting here, shaking my head in amazement. How can I thank you for this? What a priceless gift.
Last edited Fri Jan 4, 2013, 11:25 PM - Edit history (2)
I want to mention up front that I'm not a photo restorer, just a compulsive editor. I'm not trying to pass these off as professional work, just an improvement that I had spare time for.
I'm often told I edit my pix too much, sometimes beyond good taste, but I enjoy it so. Like your dad, I too grew up around cars, and when I see a very old car that's had a better day, I'd like to see it restored to it's original showroom condition, or even mildly customized. Others will see the same car and appreciate it's originality, that it's never been restored. They point out that the faded paint contains historic patina, and that the threadbare cloth seats tell a story of where it's been and who was driving. They make a convincing point that it survived decades from the factory without a restoration, but I say say it's about time then.
Pictures are like that too. What one person could legitimately call charming original appeal of the camera's eye at the time, I often see as a candidate for an overhaul.
I hope this portrays the memory of your Mom & Dad better than that tattered and torn b&w image. PS: She has those beautiful blue eyes again:
It appears your Mom was perhaps just a couple years younger than mine by the time the war ended. Mine had already graduated HS and worked at US Gypsum in Warren Ohio during WWII:
I hope your weeks to come find you experiencing smooth closure and the strength to go on.
