PHOTO COLLAGES, SPECIAL EFFECTS & MANIPULATION
Back in the dark ages of desktop digital imaging (1989), I ended up learning to scan and retouch photos by default. Since then I have gone from converting screen captures for printable resolutions to creating elaborate photo collages. Some of the material is commercial artwork, some is photo restoration and some is just for fun. I am an Adobe Certified Expert- Photoshop 5 and have ten years of experience with the product. I have fixed literally thousands of pictures for print production, multimedia and sentimental reasons. I am a frequent workshop provider here in the Northeast and consult for several training centers.
If you have a question or a job, contact me: RCAMPBELL@MLEDESIGN.COM. We are happy to provide written estimates and welcome fire, smoke and water damaged collections as well as insurance claims work.
Note that I can frequently recreate a person's face. For example, I can copy a left eye and recreate a right eye, recreate part of a face taking details from another part of a face. I can remove people or objects off a background and create a new background. For an idea of the range of possibilities, take a look at some of my work. Just click on the detail.
THE PROCESS
Photo restoration can be very time consuming. The fundamental tools include a high resolution scanner, and a rather powerful computer with lots of RAM and storage. The software of choice is Adobe Photoshop. We always take care to scan at a higher resolution than is necessary to create the final print so that the image can be magnified during repair. Once the image is in Photoshop there are dozens of techniques. The one requirement that goes beyond the computer is patience. The digital artist must have the skill and the patience to make the finest of selections and adjustments to small areas of the image. Very few pictures are magically fixed by an automatic computer program. Most of digital photo retouching involves making hundreds of brush strokes with an electronic brush. The advantage of doing it digitally is the flexibility one gains.
THE END PRODUCT
Several suppliers of photographic ink jet paper now warranty prints not to fade for 11 years, the same as photos developed and printed from film in the traditional way. So, the end product is a photographic print on your choice of matte or gloss photographic paper. Our experience and the quality of our equipment ensures that the prints we make will equal any traditionally developed photographic print. The difference is that if you are not completely satisfied, the digital files remain stored and can be readjusted and further edited and printed in any size or format.
VIEWING ARTWORK & EXPLANATION
Just click on the photo you would like to view. A larger view will be selected and a description of the how the artwork came about. |