Photo Restoration

Chadeaux

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Thinking of trying my hand at doing this kind of work for the public ... restoring old photos that have been damaged by time, elements, ex's, etc.

I've already found a great way of coloring old pics --- either restoring color or coloring black and white images --- so that they look like they were originally color images.

Actually thinking of starting a small business on the side doing it.

Here is an image I did for one of my cousins today.

First the original, with what looked to me like red kool-aid stains and some scratches and other damage.

before.jpg

During my lunch break today, I decided I'd see how far I could get before I had to get back to work. This was the result:

after.jpg

I doubled the width and height and was able to get this far before I had to resume calling late accounts.

I'm about to be out of work because I work for an ID10T now who doesn't understand that selling on in house credit is great only if the people you sell it to will actually pay. You don't set up an account for in the amount of $130/mo for someone who was NOT ABLE TO PAY $30/mo. It is utter insanity ! ! !

Then yesterday, I heard him tell a customer that unless business picked up we might have to close. How universally ST00PID can one person be ? ? ?
 

DizzyDigger

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Chadeaux, I went into that venture about 10 years back, and also put a lot
of effort into doing home shoots for real estate agents. It's a tough row to hoe,
but with a good deal of effort and the right kind of marketing you might be
able to make a go of it.

Suggestion: Take a look at the online listings for real estate companies in
your area. You'll find some that take good pics, and others that are horrendous.
Images won't be level, color temp is way off due to florescent lighting, etc.
I would download their bad pics into a file, fix 'em, and then take a thumb
drive with the pics on it and visit the salesperson in person. Show them
(on their computer) how much better their pics look after your "magic",
and if they appreciate the benefits, then talk to them about what you
might charge for fixing all their future pics. Those online listings and
images are their #1 marketing tool, and having better images means
they'll get more calls and more opportunities to sell properties.

I used to take the images myself, as well. At one time I was using
4-6 off-camera flash units on wireless triggers, as that was the
only way to get the lighting correct, or to highlight a great feature
of a room. Honestly, it's a lot of work that 90% of the realtors won't
appreciate. Most of 'em are...thrifty, so that's why I chose to let them
take their own pics and I'd just polish 'em up for a couple dollars
per image. 10 pics and ya make $20, so you'll need to get to know
many of your local realtors..then hopefully word-of-mouth will spread
your info out to other prospective clients.

That's a lot of typing on a broken keyboard...lol

Nice work on the image, btw..:occasion14:
 

WannaDig3687

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Good job on the restoration. There may be a market out there for that service.
 

tamrock

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If anything you may find work in a photo lab. I know my local Costco does this kind of service. I think they charge like 20 to 30 bucks per photo depending on the type of restoration needed. Good luck on your idea :thumbsup:
 

Keith Jackson

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I like the restoration work, however, the enlargement has made the image soft. That is fine, if that is what you are going for. If you really want a larger image, I would rescan the original if possible rather than enlarging it.
 

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Chadeaux

Chadeaux

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I like the restoration work, however, the enlargement has made the image soft. That is fine, if that is what you are going for. If you really want a larger image, I would rescan the original if possible rather than enlarging it.

Thanks.

Defintely would have preferred larger image, but this was the only copy left, an old scanned copy. The original scan was too small to work with, so I had to enlarge it.
 

OZARKS

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restoredbabybbbb.jpg

Here is a photo restoration I did, there is over 40 hours time in this and still not completed

This is a pic of me as a baby, I never saw the original as our house burned down when i was 3 and we lost everything, except this pic which had fire, water,smoke, tears, burns, creases etc

I think it's coming along nicely....considering I am self taught photoshop
 

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Chadeaux

Chadeaux

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Here is a photo restoration I did . . .

I think it's coming along nicely....considering I am self taught photoshop

I agree, nice work! Do you use Photoshop or one of the other programs? Personally, I prefer Corel Paintshop (formerly JASC Paintshop back about 10 years ago).
 

OZARKS

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I agree, nice work! Do you use Photoshop or one of the other programs? Personally, I prefer Corel Paintshop (formerly JASC Paintshop back about 10 years ago).

That one was done with photoshop... I just recently got photoshop again, think I have cs6 (on my pc and not this laptop)?


By the way, I thought I complimented your work, but must have erased everything when I edited...but yes, you do great work. I know what it takes to do those type of things so your work speaks for itself. Impressive.
 

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