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Warning #2 extremely self-indulgent post! 
Youve been warned!
My mother likes giving me old family photos to scan, repair in PS and hand color for her. Ive been doing it for some time now. This year when she came to visit she actually brought me a couple negatives. I was excited until I realized theyre copy negatives, and not very good quality, at that. But, it gave me a chance to play with dual developing. I printed these in Selectol Soft for about 1.5 minutes, since Id read its a great developer to open shadows, then another minute in Dektol to add some contrast.
My ancestors are from the hills of Missouri; they were country people, born and bred. The subject of my project here is my maternal grandmother; she appears in all 3 of these images in varying stages of her life, and I find it fascinating to think about who she was and where she came from.
This first image is just scanned from an old photo, cleaned up in PS, converted to B&W and hand colored on special inkjet paper. The woman is my great-grandmother Ruth, who no doubt bullied the kids into putting on their Sunday best and sitting outside the house for this portrait. Great-Grandpa Joe pulled on his clean overalls; maybe the nicest thing he owned. I have a vision of the boys ripping those ties off as soon as the photographer was done, so they could get back to the creek or the woods or the chores.
This picture I am placing at circa 1915-17. My grandmother is the little girl in the front.
I printed this next image as is, so all the damage from the original print shows from this copy negative. Here is Grandma as a young woman. She had already snagged Grandpa, and on this day, the story is, they were driving around the back roads with unknown friends (it isnt their car) who took this picture. I like to think its an old Brownie shot. Grandma was still dirt-poor, as is evidenced by the dumpy sack dress and those knitted stockings. They had so little. As I was telling someone the other day, I like to think about this image when, say, Im stuck in traffic or bitching that my cell phone cant get a good signal. Keeps me grounded, somehow. They were married on Christmas Eve.
The obligatory sepia-toned image:
The hand colored version (for my mom):
This one is a studio image, and appears very blown out. There is little detail in Grandpas face and the babys outfit, and the negative shows all the damage from the original print. Here, Grandma is all grown up, a married woman with a baby. She is styling here, and no doubt feels very wealthy compared to her former status. :razz: Note the careful flapper hairdo, the silk dress, gold watch, and her shining silk stockings. Circa 1928-9? The baby is my mother.
The obligatory sepia-toned image:
The hand colored version (for my mom):
Like I said, a very self-indulgent post from a personal project. Thanks for looking.
Youve been warned!My mother likes giving me old family photos to scan, repair in PS and hand color for her. Ive been doing it for some time now. This year when she came to visit she actually brought me a couple negatives. I was excited until I realized theyre copy negatives, and not very good quality, at that. But, it gave me a chance to play with dual developing. I printed these in Selectol Soft for about 1.5 minutes, since Id read its a great developer to open shadows, then another minute in Dektol to add some contrast.
My ancestors are from the hills of Missouri; they were country people, born and bred. The subject of my project here is my maternal grandmother; she appears in all 3 of these images in varying stages of her life, and I find it fascinating to think about who she was and where she came from.
This first image is just scanned from an old photo, cleaned up in PS, converted to B&W and hand colored on special inkjet paper. The woman is my great-grandmother Ruth, who no doubt bullied the kids into putting on their Sunday best and sitting outside the house for this portrait. Great-Grandpa Joe pulled on his clean overalls; maybe the nicest thing he owned. I have a vision of the boys ripping those ties off as soon as the photographer was done, so they could get back to the creek or the woods or the chores.
This picture I am placing at circa 1915-17. My grandmother is the little girl in the front.
I printed this next image as is, so all the damage from the original print shows from this copy negative. Here is Grandma as a young woman. She had already snagged Grandpa, and on this day, the story is, they were driving around the back roads with unknown friends (it isnt their car) who took this picture. I like to think its an old Brownie shot.
Grandma was still dirt-poor, as is evidenced by the dumpy sack dress and those knitted stockings. They had so little. As I was telling someone the other day, I like to think about this image when, say, Im stuck in traffic or bitching that my cell phone cant get a good signal. Keeps me grounded, somehow. They were married on Christmas Eve.The obligatory sepia-toned image:
The hand colored version (for my mom):
This one is a studio image, and appears very blown out. There is little detail in Grandpas face and the babys outfit, and the negative shows all the damage from the original print. Here, Grandma is all grown up, a married woman with a baby. She is styling here, and no doubt feels very wealthy compared to her former status. :razz: Note the careful flapper hairdo, the silk dress, gold watch, and her shining silk stockings. Circa 1928-9? The baby is my mother.
The obligatory sepia-toned image:
The hand colored version (for my mom):
Like I said, a very self-indulgent post from a personal project.
Thanks for looking. 
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