Penny Farthing

[deadants]

I have been thinkiing the thing on the left sholder could be some sort of epaulet, like you would see in a brass band uniform.

i think you're going to have to just make a 'best guess' on this one. i lean to removing the heavy black and replacing with surrounding area colors and shades, but that's by no means a certainty.

yes I think It's going to be a case of cutting the corruption out and reconstructing. There's just so much to clean up, I'm not sure how it will look like.

Boy O Boy it's a real head banger.

[MaryLynn]

Just a couple of observations on this photo, not from a technical but an historic viewpoint. The over all costume of the man is not everyday dress but that of a circus or sideshow performer. The headgear is ornamented with feathers, the coat is a cutaway, ringmaster style.

Performers decorated their costumes not to be authentic but to be exotic. The black, because of its more uniform shape on the right front shoulder, could be a length of fur or hair, dreadlock style. Who knows, he may have been carrying a monkey on his right shoulder.

The black on the bottom back part of the headgear may just be an over developed shadow. I think I would try to preserve the black in the photo because of its regular, not random, presence.

Someone with much more experience with photography and deterioration in old photos would have to explain the white fluff. Mike from Enumclaw, where are you?

[Kraellin]

one other suggestion here, deadants, when you start on this, remove only that which you're 90% sure doesnt belong. save. then work the 80% certainty. save. etc with 70% and so on.

the white to the left of the gentleman on the clapboard siding is where i started. it's obvious corruption and once removed makes the whole look better. it can also happen that as you remove more and more, new things you didnt see before will start to become more clear. just be careful that you're not adding your own new detail. i've done that too

K.