Lots of grain

[Ausimax]

Phil,

Try colour correction adjusting individual channels in Levels

Then duplicate the layer and then Filters/Noise/Median use a setting of about 2 then add a layer mask and and mask out the eyes and mouth.

Then using the healing brush on the duplicate layer (not on the mask) with a small brush 6/8 pixels select a reasonably smooth area on the forehead and start painting following the contours of the face to blend the blotching, some places you will have to clone in new material to work with.

This is a quick and nasty example, I used a layer set to colour mode and painted in the face colour.



This keeps a lot of the texture in the image.

Max

[Hannie]

Kevin, what texture did you use after the healing brush?  It has a very realistic skin texture, very different from anything I have ever seen, almost vertical.

Phil, don't be confused, it is great to see all the different ways to approach a restore like this and remember, it is easier to give suggestions than to do the restore!  ;)

Hannie

[philbach]

Well thanks everyone.  I had never tried the healing brush method as described by Hannie, kevinsworth, and Kiska.  And it took me a while to understand what everyone was trying to describe to m.  I am trying that out now.

Ausimax, thanks for your suggestion too.  Slightly blurring the duplicate layer and starting to heal from there sounds like a good idea. 

And finally I was wondering what the original photo looked like.  Ie was this hand colored and if so was it similar to what we see or where the colors distorted also. 

[kevinashworth]

The skin texture appeared with the healing brush alone, Hannie,  No textures used. One of those happy accidents that keep me hooked on restoration work  ;D

[Mhayes]

Phil,

This has been a very interesting post and really great to see different approaches to restoring an old photo.

You asked the question: "I was wondering what the original photo looked liked. Was this hand colored and if so was it similar to what we see or were the colors distorted." I have tried calling the owner, but was unable to reach her, but left a message and sent her an email about the photo in question. Hopefully she will be able to shed some light on the original. I'm totally convinced it is hand painted, because of the looks and boy's appearance which looks dated.

I just received this email from the owner:

Thank you for helping to get my precious photo's in order. This is an image of my Father that died in 2007. Image from 1918. Yes there was rosy cheeks on him. I love all the browns and then some warm colors on the photo. My dad is holding a baseball; he was also an inductee in the Armature hall of Fame for Softball at the Firestone Stadium in Akron. He was the best 3rd baseman in Ohio, recruited by the Cleveland Indians in the 40's, but had to serve his country instead.

I decided to pursue this even further and contact a close family friend, Jerry P, who is a long time photographer and owned a studio in town for a long time. I learned some really fascinating things about hand painted photos. This technique was used up to the 60s. Jerry said that at his studio before color prints were available they would take a toned photo—not black and white—and sent it off be hand painted by a woman in nearby town. She would use transparent oil paint. While sepia was better than black and white, he preferred using a selenium tone which had more of a red cast to it. Also used was Nelson P21 that was more of gold. An interesting side note is that when a photo was sent off for hand paint, a detailed description of the person's skin tone and the color of their clothes etc. On a few occasions where the hair color was hard to describe, a sample clip of hair was also sent.

Here is an interesting link on hand painting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand-colouring_of_photographs

Footnote: I sent a return email to the owner asking if I could quote her and also what bothers me is the dark spot on the hair on your right hand side. Here is what I got in reply:

l love it, what input that is involved. My Father Richard Antonio Spinelli would be proud. I agree there is too much of a dark spot on the hair that could be improved from the original. You are the pro's. Yes you can use this information on the forum.

Margie

[Tori803]

What a fascinating post! It's a great reminder of how valuable peoples' photos are to them because they all have some family history. I'm glad to know more about the hand tinting process. It reminds me that it was done to enhance the photo for the owner, not to make restoration 100 years later harder!

Tori

[Hannie]

I agree, it is great to hear from the owner and know a little about the background of this photo.  What a lovely story.

Kevin, I can't reproduce your "happy accident" and I wish I could!

Hannie

[Johnboy]

It has been interesting to see your approaches to this restore. Hand coloring or tinting can be a delicate process. When I was in school I was able to take a class in it. I had to get permission as it was a night class and I was a day student. It is painting with what is called light oil paints. This means that they are semi transparent so you can see the photo image showing through. Usually the coloration is delicate in tone as you are giving the image a hint of color. It can also be done with heavy oils which are the same as an artist uses for oil painting a picture. I have a family photo of my parents and I that was done that way. When I was working at a photo studio many years ago I took a portrait of our oldest daughter and tinted it with light oils. It hangs in our family room today. Light and heavy oils was the way they did color before color film processes became affordable and popular.

Keep up the good work.

Johnboy

[philbach]

Wow great research.  And Margie you nailed it right in the beginning.  Well thanks again everyone.  For me it had been a rewarding learning experience.