- The process begins by scanning a negative or photograph at high resolution. In this example, I am using one of my grandfather’s negatives. The original size of the negative was 3” X 5” and I scanned it at 1600 dpi. I make a copy of the file, burn it to a CD and work on a copy of the image.
- The image is imported into Photoshop and inverted to become a positive.
- The clean-up begins using the ‘clone’ and ‘healing’ tools. Damaged negatives and photographs can take many hours to restore.
- The tone is corrected to bring out the full range of the photograph. I then make a hard copy of the photograph to take with me into the field. Then it is a lot of driving and hopefully I can find the match.
- I use a digital camera to retake the photograph. Using the original as a guide, it is process of finding reference points and positioning the camera to find the right view.
- Optics, focal length and depth of field all distort what we see in a photograph. Using Photoshop, I layer my image over the original and then adjust the size, lens distortion and crop to match.
- The final image in color.
- The final image in black and white.
- The photographs are then combined using Macromedia Flash.