Category: Light Restoration

52 Ancestors, No. 17: Henry Balmer, Swiss Tinner and Farm Laborer

April 29, 2014 / tim / 0 Comments

I think this will be a short entry. I haven’t yet had much to say about this branch of the family tree, and it may be a while before I have any more to say. I don’t know too much about this gentleman, or where he came from, genealogically speaking. This is Henry Balmer, my maternal grandmother’s maternal grandfather. He was born in Switzerland on March 17, 1858. Sometimes I call him “Heinrich”, because I imagine that’s what he would have been called there. Do other genealogists make up nicknames for their research subjects? I dunno. Whatever. Continue reading

Light Restoration: Creases

July 14, 2013 / tim

Although I’ve taken a year-long hiatus from promoting this site, I am still here and available for your photo restoration needs. I did this one yesterday. It wasn’t complicated because the creases missed all of the vital parts of the picture. Compare to this job from last year, in which the crease went right across the gentleman’s face. The gentleman’s photo was trickier because I had to be careful around his nose and ears. Although this woman’s picture had more creases, they were generally easier to repair. I spent about a half-hour on it.

Touch-Ups: Color Enhancement

March 26, 2012 / tim

This soldier is in the thick of his basic training for Vietnam.

Adding color where there is none is a trick, but teasing out colors that are there and hiding is not too difficult. Playing with a few sliders and trying on a few automatic color enhancers can quickly produce striking results. In this instance, I bartered a little extra work for permission to post the picture here. Creases and negative dust specks have been removed.

Light Restoration: Desaturation, Clean-Up

March 20, 2012 / tim

Taking color out of a picture is simple. Adding color to a black-and-white photo is a trick. Aunt Rose’s valiant attempt at hand-colorization didn’t quite convince. The skin tone is unnatural and heavy brush strokes span the lips and eyebrows. Removing most of the color and cleaning up around the lips and eyebrows quickly restored this photograph near to its original splendor.