Several months ago I picked out seven old photographs from my father in laws box kept high up in the closet. This photo is an original of his grandparents. My children's great, great grandparents. I present to you Dr. Vidal Anselmo Corona Godoy and María Ignacia Godoy Uribe.
According to my father in law, Dr. Vidal "was a well respected doctor and a rancher. He was the oldest of his siblings, well mannered and a highly educated individual." His wife was the youngest of eighteen children. Eighteen. Whew!
The very first version I recieved of this photo, is the picture below. It was quite large, with an old frame on it. The entire picture was covered in little red smudges.
After scanning and cropping the photo, I tried my best to get rid of the red marks. I admit on the dress, I did not do a perfect job. I have only been dabbling with photo manipulation for a year, and still have room for improvement. I think that because this is such a gorgeous photo, one day when I am more professional, I will come back and see if I can perfect the details on the dress and the color.
The next two steps were turning the photo black and white, and than adding color.
If you are familiar with photoshop, you might have heard of photoshop smudge paintings. These are really fun because they can give a photo a soft feel like a painting. I used the smudge tool to brush the photo over bit by bit, and this really helps take away the grainy look. The final product will look great printed and framed on my father in laws wall! I will probably print one out for myself too.
What I have learned from projects like this one, is that everyone has their own preference of what is beautiful. Some people like the soft smudge painting, and some people prefer a simple coloring, or a touched up black and white. Maybe you loved the original the most, even with the wear and tear of time. Actually, I can really appreciate that too. I think, each version has something appealing about it, just because the original photo was great! That helps a photo manipulator like me stay humble. We are nothing without a good photographer to piggy back off of.