Edit that is, digital cosmetic surgery on old photos.  There is something about an old photo with its cracks and fading that gives it gravitas and says ‘ I am old, I am to be treated with respect, I am history’.

But sometimes the poor old photo just yells ‘I’ve been woefully neglected and if you don’t do something real soon, I’m out of here’.  We all know that preservation of the original is paramount and Step 1 is usually scan it.  Step 2 is store the original safely according to the best archival practices you can afford.

With those steps taken care of, I figure the digital copy of the photo or negative is fair game.  It’s in my world now.  But I do adhere to the number one golden rule of editing an image.  Never, ever, work on the original copy.  That is carefully saved and backed up away from digital fingers who might want to play with it.

So how far should you go?  I try to hold the line at repair and restoration.  Go too far and the image loses its historical credentials.

Dad takes a selfy. c1925
Before and after digital cosmetic surgery,

Here’s a digital image I worked on recently. It’s my Dad as a teenage farm hand in South Australia in the mid 1920s.  The original, a negative, had sustained a lot of damage so I tended to that first and then did some cosmetic work on the little scratches and nicks.  There’s a lot more I could do but I think I’ve gone far enough.  I’m happy with how it looks now.

The photo itself has yielded two surprises – Dad once had hair, lots of it.  And, most impressive of all, my Dad invented the selfy!