Good with PhotoShop? Want to help a fire victim?

[famousdavis]

At work this past week, a co-worker (whom I do not know) had her house burn down to the ground 8O :( -- a total loss. As I said, I don't know the woman, but I believe she is a single mom with a son.

Out of the rubble, she was able to salvage about a dozen photos that were in picture frames. Some of the photos are in good condition, some aren't. She has only one picture of her father (an Olan Mills black-and-white portrait that I think was pencil-colored -- probably 1950s-era) , and a lousy B&W photocopy of her mother. The rest are of other family members.

I've scanned her photos into my computer so I can burn a CD for her, and I can take care of fixing-up a few of the slightly scorched or soiled photos, but the two photos of her mother and father are way beyond my ability to help. The father's portrait, in particular, was a beautiful portrait before the fire, but now it is still damp, smoke-scented, and covered with black and gray ash.

If anyone here is a PhotoShop whiz and would like to donate a little time to try and repair these photos, PM me and I'll email them to you.

Many thanks for whatever assistance you can offer to her!

[arnage2]

email [email protected], and they might do it for you. (im not very good at photoshop)


sorry about the fire. :cry:

[David Prahl]

I would PM Justin "Honda_Civic_si" - he's very good at Photoshop and might be able to help you out.

Very sorry about the fire - let us know if we can help.

[JustinGTP]

Yep, I PM'd him this morning. I hope I can do something with the files :D Maybe I should PM him my email address lol, Ill do that right now :D

-Justin.

[Steven Cedrone]

Too bad you can't get some of the Fark Photoshopers to help you. Some of them are quite good...

Steve

[famousdavis]

Too bad you can't get some of the Fark Photoshopers to help you. Some of them are quite good...

Steve

What is a "Fark Photoshoper"???

Anyway, thanks to those of you who've PM'd me. I'll wait until Monday evening -- to allow anyone else who'd like to help to PM me, too -- and then I'll distribute a 2 photos or so to each of you to see if you can enhance/repair them.

Honda, it sounds like you may be my best bet for tackling the hard stuff -- I'll be curious to see your reaction to the photos when I send them to you.

Actually, rather than sending them to you (they're BIG photoshop files), I'll post them to my website and you can download them from there -- that'll keep the original scanned images intact (eg, I won't have to condense/resize them just so I can email them).

Again, thanks to all who've offered to help! :D

[David Prahl]

I know they're very personal photographs, but I'm sure many members would be interested in seeing how much restoration takes place. Could you post a sample when (and if) they're done? (Nothing personal of course)

[famousdavis]

I know they're very personal photographs, but I'm sure many members would be interested in seeing how much restoration takes place. Could you post a sample when (and if) they're done? (Nothing personal of course)

Okay, let's see if I did this correctly....

Here (http://www.williamdavis.com) is where you'll find the original photos that I scanned over this weekend. The JPEGs on the web page are condensed and smaller than the original scans. On the webpage, you'll find a hyperlink to each of the photos in Photoshop format -- much, much larger files (up to 22MB each).

I'll reply to the PMs I've received thus far and ask for specific help with specific photos. Some photos aren't too bad -- some look worse as you examine them more closely. Some are in bad need of help.

Again, thanks to whoever can help with this endeavor.

[JustinGTP]

Famousdavis,

I can see some need help - but others seem fine. Im downloading most of them, but the KB/s from your site is about 30-40, so it will take a bit. You can even help me by explaining what wrong and Ill inspect them closer up. Also, I think most are managable :D


-Justin.

[Pat Logsdon]

Yeah, most are manageable, but that one of the father is really a challenge. I've made a good start on that one (part of the hair, the eyes and the nose), but there's just a large percentage of the image that's been wiped out by the damage, so it's a time consuming process to extrapolate the data from the intact sections and apply it to fill in the damaged areas.

It actually helps that the image is an older style - the fade effect around the edges of the suit can be moved up a little to compensate for some of the missing pieces. The background should be pretty easy to clean up compared to the photo.

[famousdavis]

Famousdavis,

I can see some need help - but others seem fine. Im downloading most of them, but the KB/s from your site is about 30-40, so it will take a bit. You can even help me by explaining what wrong and Ill inspect them closer up. Also, I think most are managable :D


-Justin.

THANKS HONDA!

I'm no expert on websites, but I think because I am using the HTTP protocol for the download, it's slower. Still, as I try downloading, I'm at least getting 70-80kb/s.

If Surgical is working on "Dad" -- then maybe you can see what you can do about "Mom"? That's the last photo that was nothing more than a chintzy photocopy of an original photo. You'd have to be creative in filling in the missing part of "Mom"s head! 0X

As for the other photos, some don't look too bad, some look worse when you examine the Photoshop file, though -- the flaws aren't readily apparent on my JPEGs.

SURGICAL: Thanks so much for your eager start to helping out "Dad"! I knew that even attempting these fixes was waaaay beyond my limited Paint Shop Pro skills.

That gives you, Honda, and you, Surgical, the most difficult and challenging assignments. There were at least 2 other offers that were PM'd to me for lending some help, but I got the impression that they might not be as talented as you both might be. So, if all you do is get Mom and Dad fixed up and ready for me to print, that would be AWESOME. If you want to tackle any of the easier photos, too, let's coordinate so you both don't fix-up the same photos (unless you'd like to do that for your own personal challenge).

Again, my hearty thanks to you for your generous offer to help! I'll be certain to give you the feedback from Denise, the woman whose home burned to the ground, when I deliver the retouched photos to her. :lol:

[JustinGTP]

famousdavis,

So you would like me to work on the very last image on that page? I will see what I can do - its going to be interesting :D

Also, Im getting 140kb/s now downloading, thats much much better. Excellent :D Lets say Im glad we dont have dialup :D

-Justin.