What do you think? This picture is of my son 53 years ago. It was taken with the old Polaroid camera and has had a lot of ware and tare over the years. I tried to restore it the best I...

Bill Hancock Loc: Wausau, WI

This picture is of my son 53 years ago. It was taken with the old Polaroid camera and has had a lot of ware and tare over the years. I tried to restore it the best I could, but I am no expert, so I would like to see what you folks think. Is the picture too far gone to restore it to a descent picture? I will show the original and my pitiful effort to restore it. Thanks looking in and for your opinions. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Thanks!

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lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Bill Hancock wrote:

This picture is of my son 53 years ago. It was taken with the old Polaroid camera and has had a lot of ware and tare over the years. I tried to restore it the best I could, but I am no expert. So I would like to see what you folks think. It the picture too far gone to restore it to a descent picture? I will show the original and my pitiful effort to restore it. Thanks looking in a for your opinions. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Thanks!

Too bad you did not take it or a similar shot with a conventional camera yielding a negative. Some Polaroid cameras gave a print & negative. That being said. Your self cleaned up copy does give an old style nostalgic look to the image. What program did you use? I'd work the Contrast and Exposure a bit (Up and Down, respectively). Yes, an "expert" might do wonders with it. With my limited skills I played with it a bit with Ps CS6. Not sure it helped much. Tried to take a few "blemishes" out. Not sure why the image is so noisy and pixelated. It opens for me as a 15x21" image. And the mp x mp size seems good too. How was it copied? Good luck.

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revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Frankly, I think you did a fine job. You covered the "holes" and the strange "wiggles" on the right. I'm sure an expert (of which I an not one) could improve it. But it is an old photo and shows its honest age.

Bill Hancock Loc: Wausau, WI

lamiaceae wrote:

Too bad you did not take it or a similar shot with a conventional camera yielding a negative. Some Polaroid cameras gave a print & negative. That being said. Your self cleaned up copy does give an old style nostalgic look to the image. What program did you use? I'd work the Contrast and Exposure a bit (Up and Down, respectively). Yes, an "expert" might do wonders with it.

Thanks for your comments. I used Photoshop and I did work with the contrast, exposure, dehaze, and other sliders. There are more advanced Technics available I'm sure, but I don't know how to use them yet. I am still learning and have a long way to go.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Bill Hancock wrote:

This picture is of my son 53 years ago. It was taken with the old Polaroid camera and has had a lot of ware and tare over the years. I tried to restore it the best I could, but I am no expert, so I would like to see what you folks think. Is the picture too far gone to restore it to a descent picture? I will show the original and my pitiful effort to restore it. Thanks looking in and for your opinions. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Thanks!

You did a good job. It is a great picture, that completely illustrates one fundamental reason we own cameras.
Enjoy the memory.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Your edit is definitely an improvement. I doubt if anybody could make any major improvements to it - just minor tweaks. If you want us to have a go at it you should post as big a file as possible that was scanned at the highest resolution on a proper photo scanner (not a foolscap or A4 flatbed scanner).

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

lamiaceae wrote:

Too bad you did not take it or a similar shot with... (show quote)

You did an excellent job IMHO. A precious memory brought back to life.

dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO

Bill Hancock wrote:

This picture is of my son 53 years ago. It was taken with the old Polaroid camera and has had a lot of ware and tare over the years. I tried to restore it the best I could, but I am no expert, so I would like to see what you folks think. Is the picture too far gone to restore it to a descent picture? I will show the original and my pitiful effort to restore it. Thanks looking in and for your opinions. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Thanks!

A very sweet shot! I would crop out half of the bright left side—rather distracting and you’d still have a bit of the side lighting to show where the illumination on his face comes from.

bluezzzzz Loc: Stamping Ground, KY

This guy, Ctein, is a master at restoration, and has written a book about it.

Personally, I wouldn't have the patience for it, but he gets amazing results.

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22413245202&searchurl=an%3Dctein%26kn%3Dphoto%2Brestoration%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1

Marshall

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Personally I agree with others who think you did a fine job restoring the photo. It looks pretty darn good to me.

Dennis

dave.speeking Loc: Brooklyn OH

I don't think you meant......

Ware: manufactured articles, products of art or craft, or farm produce : goods —often used in combination.

Tare: a deduction from the gross weight of a substance and its container made in allowance for the weight of the container also : the weight of the container

Murray Loc: New Westminster

Looks good to me!

Bill Hancock Loc: Wausau, WI

dave.speeking wrote:

I don't think you meant......

Ware: manufactured articles, products of art or craft, or farm produce : goods —often used in combination.

Tare: a deduction from the gross weight of a substance and its container made in allowance for the weight of the container also : the weight of the container

I stand corrected! Thanks for critiquing my article. I should have used wear and tear. I dislike people using improper words and I dislike it even more when I use them. It seems that college graduates or the worst at spelling and improper use of words this day and time, (I am not a graduate). I am very particular about my spelling. Have a great day!

Bill Hancock Loc: Wausau, WI

Thanks to everyone for looking in and commenting on my efforts. I value your comments.

Bill Hancock Loc: Wausau, WI

R.G. wrote:

Your edit is definitely an improvement. I doubt if anybody could make any major improvements to it - just minor tweaks. If you want us to have a go at it you should post as big a file as possible that was scanned at the highest resolution on a proper photo scanner (not a foolscap or A4 flatbed scanner).

Thanks for the offer, however a flat bed scanner is all that I have and that is what I used for this photo. I bumped the resolution to 1200 when I scanned the picture. Unfortunately the original picture is only 2" by 3" and enlarging it introduces graininess I'm sure. Thanks!