How did you get "into" photo restoration?

[Sonya K]

I am looking for a little bit of insight from people who have "been there, done that".
I am relatively new to OPR, and new to photo restoration.  I've taken a PSCS2 course and have worked my way through Katrin Eismann's Photoshop Restoration & Retouching book. 
I am in the middle of a career change (read into this - unemployed by choice) and I'm looking at going back to school, or start a business.
What I am wondering is what kind of schooling or experience do other people have out there, besides just your talent.
Are there specific types of courses that I should be looking for?  Is there any merit to being Adobe Certified?
I'm looking for advice, ideas, someone who is willing to answer more questions that I have, a mentor....whatever.
Thanks in advance.
BTW...I've really enjoyed working with OPR.  Just knowing that the work we do will bring a smile to a persons face is worth all the effort.  Keep up the good work.

~~~~~~~~~
Sonya K
www.flickr.com/photos/ishootphotos

[cmpentecost]

Hi Sonya,

I am a former insurance adjuster who sat behind a cubicle for almost 14 years.  I finally got to quit this awful job, took some time off for myself, and my creativity blossomed.  I became interested in digital photography, and at the encouragement of my husband, I got into Photoshop.  Between family and friends, I volunteered to restore some damaged photos, and I realized this was something I really enjoyed.  The greatest pleasure was returning a damaged photo to someone who thought it was impossible to restore ther photo.  I have since upgraded my computer, bought a lot of the latest books, including Katrin Eismann's books, attended Photoshop World, etc.  I am in the process of putting together a portfolio for the local camera shop, that currently has to send their photos to CA for restoration.  I am much, much happier in my artistic mode than I ever was in the corporate mode!

Good Luck.

Christine

[vhansen]

I also started off repairing family images. That turned into a freelance business, contracted business, full time studio work, teaching, and back to freelancing.  I'm self taught, have never taken a course, and maybe purchased two books in the last 15 years.  Learned it all through a LOT of practice and work.

To pieces of advice:
#1 - Take some business courses.  From reading numerous posts relating to this business, this seems to be one of the biggest problems for people.  Learn how to market yourself and your work.

#2 - Seek out the most critical and honest critiques you can find.  Too often I see a praise for work that is not acceptable.  No one benefits from this.

[glennab]

Hi Sonya

I got into photo restoration when I was working at a small print shop as their art department manager.  Occasionally people would bring in damaged photos, and I found that I loved the challenge, but most of all I reveled in the joy it gave to the people to whom I returned intact memories.  I've done some work for family -- restored a photo of my father-in-law when he was a young police officer in Miami.  I wanted to do restoration as a freelancer, so I collected a ton of reference books and DVDs about the subject.

I'm a graphic designer by trade - I've worked on newspapers, designed kids stickers, produced tourist guides (that's what I do now is design ads and covers for 8 tourist guide-maps) and in desperate times worked as a typographer and production manager.

I took college courses in Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark, and they gave me a basic comfort with the software, but I have to say that most of my deep knowledge is from reading graphic trade magazines, every reference book I can get my hands on, and most of all from people I work with.  I've been fortunate enough in the last 10 years to have worked with other graphics professionals who are extremely generous with tips and tricks.  I love to hear "You know, if you do this another way, it'll be much easier," or something to that effect.

Also I can't say enough about the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.  I've been to several of their seminars and am a member, so I get their magazine "Photoshop User," as well as access to their web site, which has a treasure trove of tutorials, forums and discounts on graphics produces and Scott Kelby's books and DVDs.

Since you're starting fresh, my suggestion would be to find a college of art and design and go to school.  I'm self-taught for the most part, because I'm old enough that computers weren't even in general use in my trade when I started out (unless you count the typesetting monsters that spat out punched paper tape -- talk about the stone age!).  It's been a LONG road getting to the point that I feel confident tackling difficult restorations for OPR.  And believe me, I'm still learning.

You'll also find that the volunteers for OPR are a wealth of knowledge.  If you throw out a question, the gurus will get the answer for you in no time.  They've even pointed me to other web sites with information on restoring photos.

I've gone on enough.  I'm glad you've joined OPR.  I love that we're getting so many new volunteers.  And I think you'll find a most gratifying experience working on the restorations - both emotionally and intellectually.

Best wishes to you, and welcome!

GG (lifetime member of On and On Anon!)

[glennab]

And furthermore:

To whansen:  I totally concur with you on advice point #2.  I'd rather get honest criticism than kudos for something that is less than stellar!

GG

[Kenny]

My uncle got me into it. I watched him working on a photo of my great grandfather and he asked if I wanted to try. I did...and now here I am, lol.

I don't do restorations for a living, but my family usually keeps me pretty busy. I participate in lots of forums and I make avatars and signature graphics for anyone who asks. Really I just love doing it. I've learned so much here and I'm glad to be a part of OPR.


Kenny

[Ausimax]

I have had very little to do with photo restoration of this type, I did a couple of family photos about 10 years ago, mainly damage by silverfish, pieces eaten out of the images, not the sort of damage we are dealing with here where colour has been degraded and surface texture destroyed.

The embarrassing thing is that when I originally did them I was using an old photo editor that had no layers, or sophisticated tools only the clone tool, I had kept the original scanned files and recently had another go with PS CS2, and I couldn't make them any better. :-[

That was about the limit of my involvement until I got a digital camera about a year ago. Then I started using the Gimp to edit, colour correct and sharpen etc, about 8 months ago I projected and photographed about a thousand old slides, most of these need colour correction and removal  of scratches and dust spots, most of this was just cloning out the damage and I got it down to doing an image in about 3 minutes.

I got PS CS2 about March and have been trying to come to grips with it since, I don't have any books, mainly working off on-line tutorials, though nothing I have read has prepared me for the degree of damage we encounter here, as I have said in other posts, OPR has been a steep learning curve for me and I really appreciate all the great help, advice and encouragement I have received from fellow members.

Max