A Typical pixlfixl Restoration

Published on June 28, 2009

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A friend of mine, Jean-Claude Langer, asked me to restore a cherished old B & W photo he had of his father. The picture (photo #1), as you can see, was in bad shape with some; missing pieces, unseemly folds, fading and staining. The image was taken in Paris about 1931 and Jean-Claude asked me to restore it, but at the same time keep the old feeling it has.

When I do photo restorations for pixlfixl customers, certain issues consistently come up related to seeing the newly restored images. All the photos I work on are damaged to varying degrees and have sometimes been this way for quite a long time. Because of this, customers sometimes get used to and attached to the poor condition of their images. Many have never seen the photos in their original pristine condition, so when they see them restored they’re frequently very surprised. It’s sort of like the first time you saw a picture of one your parents when they were a child. It’s a bit disconcerting at first, but then it makes sense.

What follows is an explanation of what I actually did to restore Jean-Claude’s photograph. The first thing I do whenever I’m given a photo that’s faded over time, is I desaturate it (take the color out). I do this because I’ve found in practically all cases that fading, due to age, leads to uneven discoloration. Desaturating the tones brings everything into the same color space. At the end of the restoration process I’ll add an overall color tone (usually a variety of sepia), if it’s requested. Photo #2 shows what the original image looks like after it’s been desaturated.

My next task is to restore the tonal range of the image. Old B & W photos fade over time because the silver emulsion that makes up the image is susceptible to chemicals in the air as well as the effects of exposure to light. Fading makes the dark values lose their richness (they get lighter) and the light values get muddy.  Luckily I can reverse this in Photoshop and do it with a great amount of control.  The two ways I like to do this are to use the “image-> adjustment-> levels” or “image-> adjustment-> curve” tools. The trick is to restore the darkest shadow tones, the brightest highlight tones and set the intermediate grey values where they look best. Photo #3 shows the result of using the curve tool to do this. You see an immediate improvement during this step. An essential part of doing this effectively is having your monitor calibrated correctly, and viewing your image with a look-up that will show you what your image will look like when it’s printed on a specific paper. In Photoshop you set this up with “view-> proof set-up”  and “view-> proof colors“. I can’t emphasize enough the importance that what you see on your monitor accurately shows you what it will look like when printed. Without doing this, you can end up wasting a lot of time and paper when printing.

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After balancing the tones I’m now ready to clean the image up. I remove the folds, tears, add the missing pieces and clean up the sky using the “healing brush” and “clone-stamp” tools. This is the most time-consuming part of the process and requires a lot of attention to detail. I make sure that when I clone in the grass I don’t have any noticeable repeating patterns and that I respect the depth of field that happens on the grass plane. Another interesting restoration question is how much one should do to to make the image look better. Where does one stop? For this photo Jean-Claude gave clear direction beforehand that he wanted the little bush removed that was just to the left of his Dad’s hair. After seeing the restoration preview proof on-line (photo #4), Jean-Claude also decided that he wanted the wood debris in the grass on the left side removed and the buildings under/behind the Eiffel Tower to be darker. These requests were easily accomplished and I think they make the image cleaner and stronger (photo #5). I’m of the opinion that doing whatever you can to help the image be more effective is alright, as long as it’s in the spirit of what you believe was the original intent of the photographer. This is a very subjective area (of course) and open to whatever interpretation you may assume.

Photo #6 is the final restoration. The warm color tone was added back, in order to give the image a feeling of age.

Here’s what Jean-Claude had to say after seeing the restoration,

“Papa!

What a great photo. With many questions that will remain unanswered.

Like what year was it: you looking so much like me, or is it the other way around, I assume you are twenty, so the year could be 1931.

Must be a Sunday, as this is not your working outfit. So where is the crowd, if this is a Sunday, at noon, according to the shadows?

And you are not looking at whoever took the picture, as if unaware. And what is the main subject: you or the tower?

A friend of mine, Drew, restored the photo and did a beautiful job. I now have the picture as you kept it in your wallet.

Or was it her wallet.

Let me guess: was her name Helene, by any chance?

Love,

Jean-Claude”

Drew,

I want to thank you for giving me the precious opportunity of a renewed dialog with my dad, André, thru the time machine device that is a restored photograph. I was most impressed with your respect of the integrity of the original, and your impeccable technical ability to achieve it. You were also most gracious in complying with my added request for changes, as we both agreed that it was for the better.

All in all, a great experience.

Merci,

Jean-Claude


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Hand Coloring a Black & White Photo

Published on March 25, 2009

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This handsome portrait of Merchant Marine Captain Costas Tripolitis was taken in South Africa in the late 50’s or early 60’s. His son Nicholas, sent it to pixlfixl to have it colored. People who submit their photos for colorizing are asked to select the colors they want. The more specific, the better. Nicholas told me about the color of his father’s eyes and was particular about the colors he desired for the backdrop and the table covering. He also sent helpful reference materials for the colors of the insignia on the hat. I’m delighted when given plenty of color information – it makes the job a lot easier.
 

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Since people are curious about how I do the hand-coloring, I thought I’d break this one down and explain each of the steps in the process. Here goes…

1. I started by scanning (at 600 dpi) the original photo that was mailed in. I needed this high resolution, because I was asked to enlarge the image by 20%, so that it could be printed at an 8″ x 10″ size.

2. The image is 50 years old and it’s already showing signs of fading. One of the ways to correct this kind of tonal deterioration is to use either the levels or curve adjustment functions in Photoshop. With either of these tools you can restore the original values to what they might have looked like when the photo was newly printed. 

3. I always de-saturate the colors, even if it looks like it’s B&W. Sometimes I’ll do this before I adjust the tonal values, but this time I did it after. You can see that image #2 has a green cast to it which is gone in photo #3.

4. Before I get started doing anything with color I always set my “proof set-up” under “view” (this is in Photoshop) and make sure that, “proof colors” is turned on. The reason I mention this, is that I always want to be viewing the colors on my monitor as closely to how they’ll look when printed on the paper that the customer has selected. I print on two different surface papers, one has a matte finish (my favorite) and the other is a semi-gloss. The semi-gloss replicates the feel of the older fiber based photographic papers. Back to image #4. You can see here that I painted the blue parts of his uniform first. I create a layer for each color, so that I’ll have the ability to control the color fine tuning that I do later on. I set the layer mode to, “color”. This allows the color to mix in naturally with the tones of the underlying B & W photo. I also use the layer “opacity” slider to adjust a level mix of the color that looks right. Because I control the final value, saturation and hue of each color by using the “adjust hue/saturation” function, I’m not that concerned with painting with the exact color I’ll end up using. As long as it’s in the ballpark, I’ll be fine.

5. Here I’ve added all the gold color to his uniform and hat. Something else I like to do, after the paint is complete for each layer, is blur the paint slightly. I find that the soft edges allow the paint to blend more naturally.
 

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6. Next I apply the skin tone, being careful around the eyes and ears.

7. Then I give the lips a bit of a pinkish hue.

8. Some blue for the eyes. Often I lighten the white parts of the eyes as well as the specular reflection that sometimes appears in the irises. I find this gives the eyes a more lively feeling.

9. Here I’ve combined many layers to add the colors of his medals and the insignia decorating his hat. Each of these colors would have their own layer in my Photoshop file.

10. Similarly, I’ve combined what would have been separate layers of the seat cover, the table fabric and the wall behind him.
  
After using this method of applying color, I’m now ready to show my customer an on-line preview image (#12) for their approval. It’s at this point that the customer can comment on the colors that she/he described before getting started. Words are rarely sufficient to describe colors, so I expect there to be some changes needed. In this case, Nicholas showed the preview proof to his mother and she requested that the skin values be more saturated, and the blue in the eyes be more blue/grey, like she remembered them. These revisions were made and they approved picture #13.

The beauty of working this way is that if there are; colors that have to be changed, saturation levels that need to be adjusted or colors lightened or darkened, I can easily make them because each color is controlled separately.
 

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Pixlfixl Customer Testimonials

Published on March 24, 2009

A few people have suggested that I “Toot My Own Horn” and post some of the wonderful testimonials that pixlfixl customers have written me. It’s their belief that reading what past customers have said might boost the confidence level of future customers who will be considering my services. After mulling it over, and wondering who will toot my horn if I don’t, I’ve come to agree. So, without further ado, here are a handful of my favorites. 

Completely impressed!

I had what would probably be considered a small job – a photo of me with my very favorite celebrity and my friend had forgotten to turn on the flash!  And I had traveled halfway across the country to see him!  I found pixlfixl.com on the web, sent the photo, and Drew responded within hours – on a Sunday!  In just a couple of days, at an incredibly reasonable cost, I had a photo that I could only have imagined, based on what I sent to him – perfect!  I now have a photo that looks EXACTLY how we looked on that evening. Drew’s customer service is top-notch; he treated me like my job like it was his #1 priority.  I have already recommended him to others and will continue to do so.  Thank you, Drew!

Jane B.
Minneaplois, MN
 
Perfection 

I had a 60 year old tiny wallet size picture of my parents. It was very dear to me, but it was falling apart with wrinkles and stains all over it, in very bad shape. I thought it was beyond repair until I heard of PIXLFIXL.COM. I put the picture in Drew’s hands, not hoping for much. What I got back was a work of art. PIXLFIXL did a BRILLANT, PERFECT and BEAUTIFUL restoration job that went beyond my expectation! I now have a 6×10 framed picture of my parents on my desk and I can’t thank PIXLFIXL enough.

Virginia R.
San Francisco, CA 
  
Incredible Instant Gratification

Pixlfixl beautifully restored and enlarged ancient, tiny photos of my long-deceased father, and put them on CD so I can have them forever. The turn-around time is remarkably fast, and their fees are amazingly low considering the results are priceless. I’ve used them twice and this is just the beginning. I recommend them to anyone, anywhere who wants photo restoration.

Margorie G.
Mill Valley, CA

Hello Drew,

Thank you so much for the pictures of my father and the Haviland china. I just wept!! What an artist you are! May God Bless You! I will surely send you some more pictures from myself, family and friends.
Please have a Merry Christmas or a Happy Holiday!!

Suzanne D.
Seatac, WA

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Notes About Photo Restoration

Published on March 19, 2009

Folks I meet often ask me about the work I do, and how I became involved in it.

I start by telling them that photography has been a big part of my life since I was a kid. I grew up in NYC, and my first real exposure to photography was back in grade school (this is in the 1960’s mind you). The science teacher at the school I went to did all sorts of wonderful hands-on projects with us. My favorite was taking a self-portrait with a large format camera. After unloading the film from the camera, we went into the smelly darkroom and were shown how to develop film and make contact prints. Seeing the image appear in the developer tray, on that precious photo paper, was what really hooked me. Now that was magic! 

Skip forward forty years and people are using computers to do the same kind of darkroom magic, except with a whole lot more control. The tool of choice from the start has been Photoshop. My fourteen year experience as a digital artist at Industrial Light & Magic trained me to look at images and figure out strategies to manipulate them. Every time I restore a damaged photo, I treat it like it’s a puzzle. First, it’s brainstorming what needs to get done, and then figuring out how to do it. Each photo presents itself with a unique set of challenges. This is what makes the work so much fun for me.

I’m going to talk a bit about the thought processes I had, and the techniques I used, to restore the photo below on the left. The soldier is my father in-law, Harold Goldsmith. Taken in 1946 at Okinawa, where he was in the 494th Bomb Group doing code cryptography. I love the picture because it’s so evocative of it’s time and of Harold’s wry sense of humor.

When www.pixlfixl.com gets a photo like this one, the first thing I do is just take a long look at the picture. I try to identify the subject(s) of interest and any other important elements. I also think about what motivated the photographer or the subject to make the image. Answering these questions helps me determine what it is I need to do to make the image come alive.

In this picture there’s no mystery to the subject. It’s a visual one-liner. What did strike me immediately was the composition.  I thought the picture could be improved by cropping it to give it a more pleasing balance. Also removing some of the distractions, like the sun glare on the plane’s window, the auto behind the plane and the dark patch on the right side of the plane, would all help to keep your eye on the main subject. At the same time I decided to slightly adjust the tonal range by darkening the darkest darks and lightening the other values. Because the photo’s focus was a little soft, I subtly sharpened just Harold’s face.

One of the real challenges in photo restoration is always to make changes that reinforce the spirit of the photo, and at the same time have the modifications be invisible. If someone sees my restored photo and senses that something’s missing or notices anything that doesn’t look right, then I’ve failed. That’s the test!

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Drew Klausner’s First Blog

Published on March 13, 2009

Welcome to Drew Klausner’s blog for news about www.pixlfixl.com. For people that don’t know, pixlfixl is an online digital photo restoration service that I launched in December, ‘08. I’m hoping to use this blog to keep people up to date on what’s happening at pixlfixl as well as blog about the photo restoration process of some of the photos that come my way.  

I guess a good place to start would be to thank the four people that helped create the web-site. Laura Killmaster was the web designer (www.laurakillmaster.com). I think she did a wonderful job and was able to make a site that presents the image I wanted for the web. Laura was very patient with me. When we began the process I didn’t know the difference between a Flash site and an .html one. I’ve come a long way, now I even know a little about such things as .php and bandwidth.  Two other essential people who pitched in were John Archdeacon and Chris Johannsen. They did the coding work that makes the site usable for; creating quotes, ordering, previewing and keeping a mass of information organized. This “under the hood” work thankfully keeps me from having to use one of those large white dry-erase boards to hand track every order.

Special thanks also to freelance writer Bija Gutoff (www.gutoff.com) who wrote the snappy copy on the site. It’s amazing how important (and difficult) writing clear language can be. 

Thanks Laura, John, Chris and Bija for all your hard work!

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