manipulation | Photographs Forever

I found a very small framed old photograph of one of my family members with his family and wanted to see the man more clearly so I restored that section of the photograph that is just (1.5cm x 2.5cm) which I’ve printed A4 and it looks very good! Above is a photograph of the original photo alongside the A4 print. Below is the restored file.

Here are two restorations I completed recently.

A distracting background changed for a more appropriate one

….and a very small, badly damaged oval photograph that’s now been printed 12″ x 9″

Here’s what my customer Sheila B said “Thank you Richard for restoring the very old and battered photo of my mum you made a beautiful job of it I’m so thrilled forever grateful”

My customer had two photographs of the subject in different uniforms, taken by flash with the camera set to the wrong shutter speed so half of each photo was black.

I removed just the subject from each photo, restored the images and then replaced the background in order for the finished article to look more suitable.

Here are a couple of examples of photographs we altered recently to make special photographs even more special.

The photo below was taken in a ski resort but with a fence as a background, I added the ski resort.

Below are the two original photographs, with favourite photos both with portaloos in the background!

So I took the best portrait of each person and put them together on a background of the favourite walk they used to take together.

A lovely reminder of good times.

I recently restored and manipulated an image of Cookie the Pekingese at Crufts so that he could continue to have a presence.

Here’s the original photograph and the finished version

Here’s owner Pauline’s story:

Back in January of this year, the day I feared most came along and I had to say goodbye to Cookie after the most amazing 14 years. Although small in actual size, his presence was huge and the kitchen, despite having other Pekingese around, felt so empty. I wanted a picture of my boy in his prime, here he is in the show ring at Crufts in 2009 where he was awarded a 2nd place in a very strong class.

The original photograph had to be cropped a great deal and did not have the resolution I needed for the splash-back project, but with Richard’s magic, he got us there.

Now Cookie (or Corges Mr Cocky – his KC Show name) is back in the kitchen, with the vantage point he always wanted, he can see what is cooking!!

A photo tells a 1000 words….

A much faded photo in an old album of photographs of a child born in April 1918 shows that little girl, Hylda, clutching a much loved toy monkey
called Jacko.
Hylda gazed at the photo and recalled that as a small child she listened to the minister of her church in Kingkerswell urging all the children to give a treasured toy as a present to children who would otherwise not receive a Christmas toy. Full of good intentions Hylda gave Jacko away.

Her feelings of good will and self sacrifice lasted a day after which she spent many hours in tears for the loss of her beloved Jacko! Imagine her delight when the beautifully restored photo of Hylda and Jacko came as a special birthday card celebrating her 100th birthday…

Hylda enjoyed wonderful celebrations with her family, and friends and the story of Jacko was once again shared! The photo and the many others now restored remain as memories for
both Hylda and her family

This fantastic photograph of a Victor V Bomber refueling English Electric Lightnings over the Niagara Falls is one that I had the pleasure to restore and colourise recently. I found the correct colouring of all the aircraft from technical drawings I found on Google Images.

I received this photograph as four photographs stuck together and folded as that was the best way with the technology of the time. When it was restored I printed a 40inch wide print.

Here’s the story….

“The Cuillins is a range of rocky mountains located on the Isle of Skye, we spent many happy family holidays on Skye when I was a child and my Dad, George Smith who was a very talented amateur photographer, spent years perfecting his panorama of “the Cuillins” as we used to call them, he unfortunately passed away in 2015 and we recently went through some of the many images he had painstakingly crafted over the years, including this one which was in fairly bad condition having been folded up & stored in a box in a damp sitting room in a French Farmhouse for the last 10 years; I love this image as it brings back so many wonderful memories of my Dad and the fun we used to have on Skye in the shadow of the Cuillin, I am so grateful to Richard for the amazing restoration and for enabling such a precious memory to be recovered and displayed once again in its full glory.”

I recently received this photograph which had been kept in a photo frame and the entire top surface of the photo had come away from its paper backing and so the image consisted of a large number of very frail flakes that would have blown away in the slightest draught!

It was an important photo and so I was able to digitally painstakingly put it back together and with the help of two other photographs from the same customer I as able to use the persons eyes and add a complete dog!