My workflow

To be able to apply my knowledge of photography and post production to help a beloved friend restore a rare image of her late mother was a joy I hadn’t anticipated.

If I ever needed proof of the power and emotion photography evokes, this project more than amply demonstrated that to me – this indeed turned out to be a labour of love.

The original image, which was taken over 40 years ago, had been re-photographed on an iPhone and forwarded to me via social media, which of course compressed the image and crushed the quality!

So, where did I start?

Firstly I ran the jpeg image through Topaz Photo AI (v1.3.4), removing noise, then sharpening the image carefully. Next I recovered as much facial detail as possible and enhanced the image resolution. Finally I upscaled the imaged by a factor of four to create a larger file to work with. Photo AI is the only tool that can accomplish this with the subtly and balance a portrait demands.

I then imported the image into DXO PhotoLab 6 and began to repaired the image carefully. Once I was happy with the restoration stage, I applied a more complimentary crop before exporting the file to NIK Silver Efex Pro 3 and set about editing the image in black and white with a film noir look which I believe compliments and accentuates the natural beauty of the subject. I was able to retain the original skin texture and tone together with the shadow detail using a little dodging and burning.

I worked to retained the soul and integrity of the original photograph and I hope you enjoy the final image?

PS I printed the image on my Canon Pro-1000 at A4 with Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta fine art paper (semi-gloss) which handled the crushed blacks and contrast in the image beautifully - it looks amazing!

Comment below or reach out if you have any questions.
Thank you for reading and here is the final restored image. David.