Before and after

@JudyEv (339431)

Rockingham, Australia

February 14, 2023 4:19am CST

One good thing about being retired, for us at least, is that we have time to indulge in various hobbies and pastimes. Vince is quite passionate about his photography and spends a lot of time either taking photos and/or processing them. One of the residents here has given him a lot of very old photos and Vince is trying to restore them. There are various software programmes that make this easier. In the photo you can see a ‘before and after’ of one of the photos. It has taken maybe an hour or two to get to this stage. You might notice he has had to virtually recreate the boy's right hand. The photo isn’t terribly important but to those who might know, or know of, the people, I’m sure they’ll be pleased to have a photo that is now worth keeping.

33 people like this

32 responses

@shaggin (72103)

• United States

14 Feb 23

Wow that first photo was in really rough shape Vince did such a nice job restoring it. I imagine it wasn’t easy. I wouldn’t have the patience.

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@shaggin (72103)

• United States

14 Feb 23

@JudyEv I can see the spots you mention I just assumed he was going to leave it as is.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

14 Feb 23

It does take a lot of patience. There are still some areas that need more work.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

14 Feb 23

@shaggin I think he will leave it now as he still has quite a lot more to do.

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@rakski (122000)

• Philippines

14 Feb 23

that is a nice restoration

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

14 Feb 23

Thanks. He has done a really good job of it.

2 people like this

@rakski (122000)

• Philippines

14 Feb 23

@JudyEv that is for sure

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@snowy22315 (180362)

• United States

14 Feb 23

Very interesting..So it is all done with software then? In HS I took photography as an elective. Those were the days when you used chemicals to develop your photos in a dark room. It was fun, and interesting though. Does Vince do any of that kind of thing? With digital technology the need for that kind of thing is probably very minimal. It is hard to even find film these days.

3 people like this

@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

14 Feb 23

When we were first married, Vince used to develop his own films in the blacked-out laundry. He enjoyed it at the time but it would be hard to set up here. Actually, film is coming back into its own now.

2 people like this

@LadyDuck (471255)

• Switzerland

14 Feb 23

I did the same for a very old photo of my grandfather. I removed all the scratches, printed in a large format and framed and offered it to my Mom. She was so happy when I did. Well done Vince, I know that the software helps, but there is a lot of manual work.

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@LadyDuck (471255)

• Switzerland

14 Feb 23

@JudyEv I know that I spent a few hours to re-built the parts that were totally missing. The photo was taken in 1916, when my grandfather left for WWI, he was only 17 years old.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

@LadyDuck It's hard if you have to rebuild parts. One photo had a corner missing but Vince was able to fill it in using parts of the background that were still there.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

14 Feb 23

I can imagine how pleased your Mom would have been. It does take time, even with the sophisticated software.

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@Ronrybs (19153)

• London, England

14 Feb 23

It is quite amazing what you can do with software these days, well, that a lot of effort!

2 people like this

@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

14 Feb 23

I think Vince surprises himself at time with the changes he can make.

2 people like this

@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

I'm talking about photo processing. What are you talking about? lol

1 person likes this

@Ronrybs (19153)

• London, England

15 Feb 23

@JudyEv True, I have made some unintended changes that are rather startling!

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@Icydoll (36717)

• India

14 Feb 23

It is a well restored photo, good work

3 people like this

@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

14 Feb 23

Thanks. I think he has done a great job.

1 person likes this

@rsa101 (38148)

• Philippines

15 Feb 23

Wow that is really nice if you can do that digitally. Is it harder to do it manually? I just observed the face was kind of animated since half was white and half a bit darker maybe it needs a bit of smoothing to blend in with the other half of the face. The hand and other elements looked pretty well done.

1 person likes this

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@rsa101 (38148)

• Philippines

15 Feb 23

@JudyEv I know it would really be difficult to do if it is manually done or if they can do it at all. But this is done really well. I guess there are other elements that cannot be easily restored especially if there are pictures that are badly creased.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

The photo is all creased so you'd have to start with a copy if you wanted to do it manually. I can't imagine how you could do that.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

@rsa101 I picked this one up to see if there is a date on it and at some stage it has been torn in half and repaired with sticky tape.

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@allknowing (135922)

• India

15 Feb 23

That is where I thank technology as technology can be a nuisance too at times.

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@allknowing (135922)

• India

15 Feb 23

@JudyEv We ,must use discretion

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

I get very fed up sometimes with technology but for something like this it's pretty amazing.

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@jstory07 (139523)

• Roseburg, Oregon

15 Feb 23

The picture looks really nice afterwards.

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

It's much better now for sure.

@JamesHxstatic (29413)

• Eugene, Oregon

15 Feb 23

That is an amazing transformation!

1 person likes this

@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

16 Feb 23

Thanks. I was pretty amazed with the first few. Now I'm more used to it but I'm sure the owners of the photos will be thrilled.

1 person likes this

Valerie J. Routhieaux

@just4him (317040)

• Green Bay, Wisconsin

14 Feb 23

He did an amazing job with that photo.

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Valerie J. Routhieaux

@just4him (317040)

• Green Bay, Wisconsin

15 Feb 23

@JudyEv I'm glad he could work with it.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

It is in very bad condition. This is probably the worst of them.

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@Hannihar (130218)

• Israel

15 Feb 23

@JudyEv Restoring photos is not easy. You need a lot of patience and time and it sounds like Vince has it. Good for him for making the picture how others can see it and especially like you said those that know the people in the picture that it means a lot to them to have someone to restore it.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

Thanks, Hanni. Yes, people do appreciate it when treasured photos are brought back to life.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

@Hannihar That would have been very satisfying.

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@Hannihar (130218)

• Israel

15 Feb 23

@JudyEv I know when I was learning computer graphics my teacher helped me restore a picture of my grandparents and loved how she did it.

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@LindaOHio (177809)

• United States

15 Feb 23

Vince did an outstanding job. I used to enjoy restoring and editing photos.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

It's a satisfying thing to do, isn't it?

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

16 Feb 23

@LindaOHio That would have been really interesting. Challenging too, I guess.

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@LindaOHio (177809)

• United States

16 Feb 23

@JudyEv It's a lot of fun. I used to do a calendar for my boss every year. It required a lot of photo editing (putting people in different backgrounds, restoring an old photo, etc.). I really enjoyed that.

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@CarolDM (203422)

• Nashville, Tennessee

14 Feb 23

It is amazing how some of these photo programs can literally restore your old photos. Great job on this one. I have a program I use for the same thing.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

There is so much scope for restoring/improving etc. I like the sepia ones too that he touches up and leaves in sepia.

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@CarolDM (203422)

• Nashville, Tennessee

15 Feb 23

@JudyEv Sepia is good on the older photos, I agree.

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@RebeccasFarm (89832)

• Arvada, Colorado

14 Feb 23

I am sure those people will be well pleased with Vince's excellent work!

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

I'm sure they will too. It makes such a difference.

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@FourWalls (67705)

• United States

14 Feb 23

That’s amazing that we have software that can restore a “beat up old photo” that well.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

It is certainly beat up and very creased. Most are not quite this bad thankfully.

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@DWDavis (25805)

• United States

15 Feb 23

Vince did an amazing job restoring the photo. I can only imagine the patience it took.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

Thanks. It does take patience as you can't copy across blocks of the background. You have to do a tiny spot at a time.

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@sol_cee (38219)

• Philippines

14 Feb 23

Here you have to pay someone a lot of money for that kind of restoration.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

It's very time-consuming but he enjoys the challenge. I don't think he wants to do it for a living.

@JESSY3236 (19914)

• United States

14 Feb 23

That's amazing. Yeah technology is a big help with that kind of stuff.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

It's incredible what they can do nowadays. So much has changed.

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14 Feb 23

That's nice. I didn't know you could restore photos. I'm guessing in retirement (if you were working before retirement) these hobbies and pastimes are sort of replacement for the work life. They keep you occupied during the day and they fill your time and brings enjoyment.

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@JudyEv (339431)

• Rockingham, Australia

15 Feb 23

Yes, that's true. You need something to fill your days and it's a bit sad if you just sit and watch TV all day. lol