“Your
ancestors are rooting for you.” – Eleanor Brown
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| Great-Grandmother, Ruth, with children Michael, Charles, and Carol. Here, you can compare the original photo in black and white to the restored photo with color added. |
In the last post, I mentioned a few
ways that you can digitize and share old family photos as a means of preserving
them. However, many times old photos tend to be well-worn and tattered from
years of being slipped in and out of photo albums, being bent, and even stained.
And sometimes, we just wanted to see the old black and white photos come to
life in color.
Believe it or not, this is where
Facebook comes in. There are several Facebook groups aimed at photo
restoration. Members are able to easily upload their photos to the group and
volunteers who have experience using Adobe Photoshop and similar software will
restore and add color to your old family photos for free.
If there is a downside, it is that the
colors added to the photos will most likely not be accurate. When uploading a photo,
you can specify details that you know. For example, in the photo to above,
I knew that my great-grandmother had brown hair and that my grandmother and
great-uncle’s had blonde hair when they were
young children, so I included this information in the request. However, the red
door in the background was likely not red when the picture was taken. This does
not bother me, but it is something to be aware of. Another downside is that you
are not able to request certain artists to work on your photo. Naturally, some artists' are better than others, so this can be a bit frustrating if the photo doesn’t turn out as nicely as you would’ve
liked. However, it is still great for being a free, volunteer service.
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| A photo of my Great-Grandmother, Eula, and five of the children. Restoration of the photo eliminated spots where the picture had been bent and wrinkled over the years. |
One of the most talented volunteer artists
in the group is Robin Clark. She is able to restore and add color to the photos
so that they look very authentic and so the color is not overly “painted-on”. She had a 30-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),
where she honed her skills in digital photography. Since being a member of the
Facebook group, she has started her own business,
called Memory Lane Photo Restoration.
She has prices listed if you are interested in contacting her to have a
photo restored. There is also a gallery of work available to view on the website.
Links to her website and Facebook page are listed at the bottom of the post.
Of course, there are many other companies
and groups which specialize in photo restoration. However, this serves as a starting
point, especially if you are not sure that you want to pay to have photos
restored.
Here is a link to the Facebook group:
Memory Lane Photo Restoration:
Website - https://memorylanepr.com/
Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/memorylanepr/
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