Saturday, November 21, 2009

Warm welcomes

 
More good news: another editor has gotten into image restoration and doing really good work.  The image above is a historic isothermal chart from 1823.  Jujutacular ran it as his first restoration about a week ago.  His first effort was impressive and it was a treat to see that he had gotten it from the New York Public Library website.  The pool of resources for source material is broadening.

The version Jujutacular ran as his first nomination is better than my early work.

That represents quite a lot of cleanup.  His effort really shows on the upper margin and far left.  I was on the fence about the nomination--didn't want to rain on his parade yet thought the restoration could go even farther.  Took a chance and offered to collaborate.  It turns out he's a really good sport, eager to learn, and a joy to work with.

He had a version saved without the histogram adjustment.  Smart fellow!  We traded off on additional dirt and smudge removal; both of us applied masks to correct the uneven brightness.  I added a perspective crop, patched in a margin at the lower right edge, and did the final tweaks with curves and color balance.  Sometimes it's magical when the final work feels like a time machine.  This was one of those occasions.

There's nothing quite like the moment of enjoying an editor's reaction for the first time when he realizes, "I did this."  So cheers to Jujutacular.  Looking forward to seeing his next project.

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Per request, adding links to the full versions:

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is that the highest resolution available, or could you link to the full versions please?

Lise Broer said...

Links provided per request. Thanks for the query. :)