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A bit of background (AKA family lore): my maternal Grandma Thelma died about 20 years ago. Within three years, my grandfather had remarried, still in his 70's. Shoulda/coulda been a scandal, but it was actually quite sweet. 
Wife #2 died within 5-6 years and had made my grandfather happy.
When Grandpa Clarence eventually died, my mother was thus tasked with going through his belongings. In his wallet, she came across a tiny photo of Grandma Thelma. It looked like something that had come from a photo booth. It was well-worn, creased from being jammed in his wallet for so long. So he never really put away his memories of her. My mom showed it to me...and I got inspired.
Here is what she gave me. I added coins for perspective:
I decided to try to restore and enlarge it. I scanned it at the highest resolution I could. With Photoshop, I cleaned up the creases, scuffs, etc. as best I could, then enlarged the file to 4"x5" - the largest I dared to go from that size, and I sharpened it carefully by increments.
Next, I converted the photo to B&W and adjusted the contrast/values. When I got it looking right, I converted it again to a "negative."
I then printed the negative onto Pictorico white film paper, which is like a clear polyester. So I then had a 4x5 "negative." Now, the advice is to generally just take these digital negatives and do what's called contact printing - meaning, just place it directly onto your silver gelatin paper, so when you expose it to light the size of the negative is the same size print you'll end up with. But I wanted to push the envelope even more. So, after cutting the negative out carefully, I fit it into a 4x5 film holder and placed it into my enlarger.
I enlarged it to roughly an 8x10 (double the negative size).
It was soft around the edges, but I knew how to trick the eye a bit. First, I decided to tone the print in a tray of sepia toner for a slight warmup in overall tone:
And then, using Marshall's photo oils and oil pencils, I hand painted it.
It's still soft, of course. But a visual trick with using photo oils is that the lines between colors create a little automatic "sharpening" just by virtue of butting up against each other. I used photo oil pencils to lightly outline the facial details.
I decided to use the same colors from the photo-booth original, as close to a match as I could get. Then I presented it to my mother. We both had a good cry.
It was a fun project, with the outcome being my mom and other family members began sending me more family photos. So I was kept busy with that for some years. It's very intimate and rewarding work, looking into the eyes of your ancestors.
Wife #2 died within 5-6 years and had made my grandfather happy.When Grandpa Clarence eventually died, my mother was thus tasked with going through his belongings. In his wallet, she came across a tiny photo of Grandma Thelma. It looked like something that had come from a photo booth. It was well-worn, creased from being jammed in his wallet for so long. So he never really put away his memories of her. My mom showed it to me...and I got inspired.
Here is what she gave me. I added coins for perspective:
I decided to try to restore and enlarge it. I scanned it at the highest resolution I could. With Photoshop, I cleaned up the creases, scuffs, etc. as best I could, then enlarged the file to 4"x5" - the largest I dared to go from that size, and I sharpened it carefully by increments.
Next, I converted the photo to B&W and adjusted the contrast/values. When I got it looking right, I converted it again to a "negative."
I then printed the negative onto Pictorico white film paper, which is like a clear polyester. So I then had a 4x5 "negative." Now, the advice is to generally just take these digital negatives and do what's called contact printing - meaning, just place it directly onto your silver gelatin paper, so when you expose it to light the size of the negative is the same size print you'll end up with. But I wanted to push the envelope even more. So, after cutting the negative out carefully, I fit it into a 4x5 film holder and placed it into my enlarger.
I enlarged it to roughly an 8x10 (double the negative size).
It was soft around the edges, but I knew how to trick the eye a bit. First, I decided to tone the print in a tray of sepia toner for a slight warmup in overall tone:
And then, using Marshall's photo oils and oil pencils, I hand painted it.
It's still soft, of course. But a visual trick with using photo oils is that the lines between colors create a little automatic "sharpening" just by virtue of butting up against each other. I used photo oil pencils to lightly outline the facial details.
I decided to use the same colors from the photo-booth original, as close to a match as I could get. Then I presented it to my mother. We both had a good cry.
It was a fun project, with the outcome being my mom and other family members began sending me more family photos. So I was kept busy with that for some years. It's very intimate and rewarding work, looking into the eyes of your ancestors.
