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Friday Family History: Fun with Photos

I love stumbling upon old family photos.  How am I related to this person?  Do we share a resemblance?  Does the background of the photo give me any clues about their daily life?



Sometimes, though, an old photo looks old.  I can't tell if there is a family resemblance, because I can hardly tell what the person's face looks like.  Enter photo editing software to the rescue.  

I am not an expert at photo editing, but I do like to experiment.  I usually use either www.picmonkey.com or www.picasa.com , but there are plenty of programs (free and otherwise) from which to choose. No matter which program I use, I like to make sure to save a copy of the photo first, so that I always have an unedited copy for future reference.

For this post, I started with this photo of my great-grandparents, Donald Joseph Telfer and Edna Anna Hunt:

 
They are dressed up, yet appear to be out on a picnic.  Notice the pail in his hand.  She has a beautiful smile.  His face is obscured by shadow.  They are accompanied by a dog in the background. 

After playing with exposure, cropping, and special effects, I came up with these:






Have you ever tried editing old photos?

Thanks for family photos, which offer a glimpse into the past.


You can sometimes find my posts at the following blog hops:

Sew Darn Crafty Party,  Find a Friend Friday, Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop, Show Your Stuff, The Wildly Original Link Party, Wow Us Wednesdays, Down Home Blog Hop, Tuesday Archive Link Up, Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River, Grandparents Say It Saturday
The Creative Home Acre Hop,  Best Blog Post Ever, Grand Social,
Crafty Garden Mama,
Let's Get Social Sundays
Freedom Fridays
Tuesdays with a Twist 



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Comments

  1. NancyMay 3, 2013 at 7:48 AM

    Yes, I've tried to work with a few with good results. I use iPhoto on my computer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sweat + SparkleMay 3, 2013 at 7:50 AM

    The first thing my web design teacher taught us was to always save the original photo before making any edits! It has been a lifesaver more than once.

    I like freeonlinephotoeditor.com for basic editing and lunapic.com for adding fun stuff like graphics, borders, glitter, animation, etc.

    My family isn't very close knit, but I do cherish the few old family pictures I have, my great grandparents and grandparents. So much personality comes through to see them when they were younger, posing with cars, in bathing suits, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DebbieMay 3, 2013 at 8:07 AM

    I haven't tried editing old photos yet. Yours turned out great considering what you had to work with. Old photos fade so much don't they? You actually look a lot like your great grandmother Edna! A resemblance for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stevie HannaMay 3, 2013 at 10:16 AM

    That's really neat! I've never tried to edit any old photos like that but I do goof around with my recent photos with Instagram and other "happening" apps that allow me to change the look of my pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ~Kc WaddellMay 3, 2013 at 11:10 AM

    I actually have restored 2 older photos, one of my grandparents and one of my uncle -- both had been lunch for a mouse and weren't in great shape before that. Photoshop and I have this wonderful love/hate relationship!

    ReplyDelete

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