Students’ Stories: Retouching Family Photographs

Over the years we have launched many classes on Skillshare, but one of my favourites has to be my class Beginner’s Guide to Retouching Old Photographs in Adobe Photoshop which explores the art of retouching old images and photographs in Adobe’s digital darkroom. This class quickly became one of my favourites because of the work posted by the students and the profound stories revealed by their photographs. When I made the class I had no idea it would have such a strong effect; almost as if by accident the class’ project allowed people to personally respond and tell their own stories in a way which I have not seen in our other classes. The following post is a brief look at some of the photos restored by my students and their stories….

Monica Faber restored this photograph of her grandmother.

Grandpa's Photo

Sahana restored an old portrait of her late grandfather, who she never met, but has heard many stories about him from relatives. According to these stories, he was a very talented, kind and loving person. When Sahana presented the now fully restored photo to her mother — which is the only photo the family has of her grandfather — it brought tears to her eyes. The photo was only a small portrait which had become badly damaged over the years, with the print’s emulsion having been worn away in several places, particularly over the subject’s face.

This was the first of many such stories which appeared in this class….

Repairing an old family photo

Rummaging through an old cabinet Jo Barnes’ auntie found a bunch of old family photos of her grandparents. Amongst the old prints and photos — some in increasingly poor condition — was this photo of Jo’s great great grandmother, Elipsaba.

Jo has done a really great job here restoring the photo of her great great grandmother and I think she has managed to strike the right balance between restoring whats’s there, but also maintain the aspects of the photograph which give it age and character. For example, using the tools available to her in Adobe Photoshop, Jo has repaired the creases and torn edges, but has kept the photos rough border from the original print.

This raises an important question, at what point is image restoration too much and where must you draw the line and say ‘if I go further I will begin destroying the characteristics and details an old photo has acquired through its ageing, which have now become part of the fabric of that photo?’ I don’t think there is a straight answer here, and it is very much dependent on the photo you are editing. When restoring an old image I tend to removed all of the dust and scratches, folds and creases (within reason, sometimes it’s just too difficult), pinholes and damage to the print’s emulsion. However like Jo Barnes and her photo of her great grandmother, I generally try to avoid removing things like the photo’s original borders, for example if the photo has been printed or mounted on card with an ornamental border or rough edge. You also have to make a decision whether to keep any toning, like sepia, applied to the print, or fully convert it to greyscale; again this is a difficult question and really depends on the image’s aesthetics.

Cathy Brinkman’s family portrait

Cathy Brinkman was another student who took my class and in the process restored this badly damaged family portrait. Over time the photograph had become badly faded and had torn edges, badly in need to restoration to make the photograph’s composition work due to its tight crop. Unlike Jo Barnes’ photograph of her great grandmother, this picture is an example of when you are better off restoring and recreating the edges of a photograph. Cathy has done a great job here, rebuilding the background and a portion of arm on the subject on the left. Cathy has also chosen to keep the photos sepia hues, which give the portrait its warmth and character!

When I spoke to Cathy she was planning to make a memory book with her newly restored photographs.

Cathy Brinkman’s family portrait, now fully restored.

Before and after of the photograph restored by Marietta Bartha.

Marietta Bartha’s Little Mother

Another student, Marietta Bartha was sorting through old family photos and found this picture of her mother, when she was a child. She decided to restore the photo and present it to her mother as a birthday present! What I liked about Marietta’s story is how she found the process highly motivating; this is something I completely empathise with, having also recently begun the process of restoring some of my father’s old photos. Restoring old family pictures, whether it is of a parent or grandparent, or for a present to a loved one, is a highly emotional and personal process because the work is very directly connected with you!

So this is some of the work and stories by the students in my photo retouching class. Seeing their work, hearing their stories and being able to contribute towards their work and family histories has made teaching this class a heart warming process.

Want to learn more?

If you are interested in restoring some old photos, you can learn about the process in my class Beginner’s Guide to Retouching Old Photographs in Adobe Photoshop (available on Skillshare and on Teachable), where I will walk you through all of the tools and techniques available using Adobe Photoshop. In the class you will learn how to: use the Clone Stamp, Spot Healing Brush, Healing Brush and Patch tools to clean and retouch your photographs; non-destructive techniques and workflows; how to enhance your photo restorations using Curves; utilise different Colour Modes; and how to save your image for use and archival purposes.