Fun with Photos

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Welcome to our "Fun with Photos" Page!

Below are a few examples of what can be accomplished using photo editing tools. For the companion article, click here. The editor we used for these is called HotShots, by PictureWorks. The program is several years old and came free with the purchase of a Nikon digital camera. There are other programs with many more "bells and whistles," but we like this editor for it's simplicity and results! Unfortunately, this program is no longer available.

The Love Family Portrait taken in Northern Ireland (ca 1891) Click on a thumbnail (picture) below to enlarge the picture
(Full file size: 126k )		(Full file size: 141k )
"Before" (click picture to enlarge) This is a scan of an original photograph. Note the white dots all over the photograph. I believe that this is a form of "foxing" caused by mold penetrating the surface of the paper. Yes, it was a big family! (Some of the children are not even shown in this picture) Film was a lot slower in the old days. As a result, people would have to hold a pose for several seconds. You will notice that the foot of the child on the left bench is blurred from swinging the leg. The youngest child is also slightly blurred. I am just amazed that this large group, with so many children, managed to stay as still as they did!		"After" (click picture to enlarge) This is the final version after various enhancements to the photograph. It is always a good idea to save your work periodically under different names as you work with photo editing tools. The steps taken were:
		Sharpen Make black and white (gray scale) Repair foxing and other imperfections using cloning, smudging, and other techniques. Re-tint to make sepia again. Adjust contrast and brightness Adjust size (scaling) for your specific needs.
Close-up of Love Family Portrait
(Full file size: 66k )		(Full file size: 75k )
"Before" (click picture to enlarge) In this view we can see the the foxing affecting every subject in the photograph.		"After" (click picture to enlarge) With the foxing removed, and the image sharpened, darkened, and a new tint added, the photograph appears more vivid and the subjects more alive! You can even appreciate the texture of the fabrics worn. (the boy is Robert Samuel Love ... Bruce's grandfather!)

Bruce meets President George W. Bush (click on any of the following pictures to see an enlarged version of the pictures shown)
	STEP 1 Here is a picture of Bruce in the gallery of a private collector. This pose lends itself to cloning Bruce a friend. Since recent (real) photographs suggest a great deal of intimacy between "the Johns" (Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards), we decided to work on the warmth displayed by members of the Republican ticket.
	STEP 2 President George W. Bush with his wife (Laura) and Angel Diaz, President of the Latino Chambers of Commerce, at the White House Christmas Dinner. "George W" will become the victim of this cloning.
	STEP 3 All three subjects were cut from the White House picture. This was done to get the proper layering order that we needed.
	STEP 4 Using the photo editor, Bruce was clipped from the gallery, and resized to match the scale in the other picture. During this step, try to adjust the tint, brightness, sharpness, and contrast to match the conditions in the other picture. If I had spent a little more time with this, I would have softened Bruce's image to match the quality of the picture with President Bush, and made the image a hair lighter.
	STEP 5 There were two steps that occurred before the one pictured here. I cloned additional foliage for the tree prior to placing anyone back into the picture to fill gaps that resulted from cutting out the others. Next, I added Bruce before adding the President. This is so we get the illusion of Bruce with his arm around the back of Bush. The picture was then cropped tighter since we only had two people in the new picture
	STEP 6 This picture shows President Bush with his first choice for a running mate. Bruce respectfully declined the generous offer during dinner at the White House last Christmas. He explained that he remained fully committed to his clients, and that he didn't want to let them down. However, Bruce also let it be known that for a small retainer, he would be happy to provide some limited consulting. A great deal of cloning and smudging took place to get the picture to blend as well as it does here, but more can always be done!

What To Do With Old Faded Photographs (click on any of the following pictures to see an enlarged version of the pictures shown)
(Full file size: 42k )	This was the severely faded photograph of the ancestors of a client. It is a wedding portrait from about 1920 and had scratches and blemishes. Since it was originally a very good quality photograph with a lot of detail, I was pretty confident we could bring out a lot of the details that were barely visible.
(Full file size: 44k )	Here is the photo after retouching the scratches and blemishes, and relying heavily on the use of the contrast, brightness, and tinting tools. Before adjusting the contrast of any sepia photo, it is best to do so in black and white, and then re-tint using your photo editor. This is especially true if there is any "silver shadowing" affecting the photo, as was the case with this photo. (Silver shadow is the bluish tint that results when old sepia photos are exposed to humidity and/or some environmental pollutants).