An Example of Water Damage

Here's a photo that is a great (but still heartbreaking) example of water damage, scratches, and dust. That orangey tint around the outside and especially on the right side of the photograph is due to water (or possibly orange soda). Either way, the damage is there and makes the photograph look terrible. There is also a large amount of dust on the photograph (those small white specks), most notably on the woman's chin and around the edges of the photo. On the left side of the woman just above her head is a rather large scratch, and a bend in the photo in the very top left corner of the image. 

By romoving the bends, scratches, dust specks and water/orange soda stains, I've been able to restore the photograph to it's original glory. I also heightened the contrast just a bit, but it's not very noticeable because the photograph was already so dark to begin with.

A Few More Colorations

                                   

Now, I'm aware that in the first photograph his jacket remained the same color in the colorized photograph, but I rather liked it that way. The reddish tint goes well with the stripes (or maybe I'm just crazy). I'm extremely happy with both of these, especially how the ring turned out in the first one. The lighting was absolutely perfect in both of these, so the colors came out beautifully and they look natural. I hope you like them.

Edit: I figured someone would like to see the jacket a different color than the reddish-tinted one, so I made a grey version as well.

                                     

Grandma & Grandpa DeMarco

This lovely couple happens to be my grandparents on my step father's side. Their names are Rose and Jimmy  DeMarco Sr. This photo was taken in probably the 1960s, because they're not as thin as they were in some of their older photos.
With this one you can see more dust and scratches, especially on Grandpa Jim's cheek. In the colored one I removed them, which definitely cleaned up the picture and gave it a nicer look.

Lorking, Beales & Clarke

This is a photo of my grandfather and his two sisters, their husbands and children, and my great grandmother. The colors aren't nearly as vivid as the photo of my great uncle I posted earlier, but that would be due to the contrast again. Lucky for me, the (Photo Manipulation Program that I use) offers a way to heighten and lower the contrast of a photo, making it a bit easier for me to work with some pictures.

But yes, from left to right in the back is my beautiful great Aunty Wendy Lorking, her ex husband Albert Beales, my grandfather Bruce Lorking, my great grandmother Kate Iris Mote, and my great Aunty Linda Lorking and her husband John Clarke. Sitting on the floor are Mark Beales and Angela Clarke. This photo was taken in early 1962; I'm terribly fond of it, and you'll probably start noticing a theme of blue backgrounds with me. It just looks the most realistic and natural in my opinion.

Contrast and Great Uncles

Here is a nice example of a photo I added color too! I didn't change much about his jacket, I thought it looked nice that color. Photos like this professional one of my great uncle (I'm fairly sure this was taken in the 1950's, there was no date on the back though) are some of the easiest for me to add color to. They have the simple background, and excellent lighting. Sometimes when the contrast (how dark the darks are and how light the lights are) in the photograph isn't very good, it makes it very difficult to add color.

For example, a photo with very low contrast would be something like (this)

While a photo with very high contrast would be something like (this).

So anything somewhere around the middle is very easy to add color to, like this photo of my great uncle Alexander (Although his tie was a pain in the butt)!