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!