Photo Restoration - - Operation Photo Rescue - New Photo

klassylady25 · #1 09-22-2006, 09:23 PM

This appears to be the young lads confirmation day but what is on the mantle? I see a book maybe, but the round thing? Any thing you can help with would be appreciated. I've only just started.

Kraellin · #2 09-23-2006, 06:53 AM

candy,

not real sure but it seems to be a box in front of a candelabra of some sort.

you do pick the easy ones, dont you

craig

klassylady25 · #3 09-23-2006, 07:49 AM

The hard ones make me take the books out more, Craig. I'm always striving to improve if for no one else but me. I've heard it said that it isn't "practice makes perfect" it is "perfect practice makes perfect" and "success is directly proportional to the errors one has made"...... and boy have I made a bu** load!

I like your thoughts on the object. I had someone else say a pendulum and then there was modern art, another said perhaps it was something at the top of a staircase.... I do know that I can restore it but wouldn't it be nice to know what the heck it is? LOL

Swampy · #4 09-23-2006, 08:21 AM

Looks like the boy is holding a box with a Rosary hanging out of it.

Kraellin · #5 09-23-2006, 09:19 AM

yes, i wondered about something hanging, a pendulum or whatever, but the box part seems to be sitting firmly on the mantle. the white part sticking up definitely looks like a tapered candle, except right where it joins the other part and then i'm not sure. i tried to see a part where the 'candle' would be in a holder, but couldnt make one out.

i'm also not sure if the roundish, 'modern art' part is attached to the box part or not. it might be at the top of the box and then curve around and go behind the box on the camera left side.

i'm afraid cleaning it up the little bit that i did didnt help much either.

and dee dee is right about the rosary but what bugs me is his mostly missing left hand. that's going to be tricky. i think i can see his left cuff and a bit of wrist but the rest is almost indistinguishable and is going to have to be reconstructed.

craig

Cassidy · #6 09-23-2006, 09:29 AM

the large rope and the staircase, makes me wonder if maybe it is sometype of bell attachment, else is it a small art deco mirror? The thickness or weight of the cord makes me think it either needs to bear weight or needs strength over distance

klassylady25 · #7 09-23-2006, 09:30 AM

I knew that it was a rosary because I grew up in a Catholic town, as for the other object, I think that it might have been what the rosary came in since he is sharing the rosary in the picture. I, also, see a faint outline of the left hand and you're right...... it's going to be tricky!!!

Lovin' ya'lls input.... thanks very very much!!!

oltenius · #8 09-23-2006, 12:44 PM

Well, I think there are the steps of the staircase!

(right side of the photo)
Dan

DCobb · #9 09-23-2006, 09:15 PM

It is probably the way the damage forms a pattern, but in addition to a rosary it looks to me like the subject is holding some type of animal. I see a white mask, two eyes and a nose. If he was holding such, it would explain where his left had is--supporting the animal. Maybe I just need a new opthomologist.

Dudley

Kraellin · #10 09-23-2006, 09:27 PM

sorry, i dont see a staircase. i see a window with some outdoors stuff showing through on the right and a LOT of stain that is inclined like a staircase, but no staircase.

as for the 'rope', it seems to have a taper. cords and ropes wouldnt likely have a taper.

hehe, ya gotta love a good mystery

craig

DCobb · #11 09-23-2006, 11:00 PM

Could that which has been described as a window be an open French door refelecting the outside in the glass. There appears to be a round object that could be a doorknob.

dc

irshgrlkc · #12 09-23-2006, 11:21 PM

I'm a Catholic and my best guess would be that the boy is holding a Prayer Book and his rosary. They are a traditional gift when one receive's their first communion (he looks a little young for confirmation to me), along with a rosary. Mine was white with an opal finish and had gold gilded pages. My mom still has hers which is more like a black onyx finish with what once was gold gilded pages (which looks like the one the boy is holding). The book contains popular prayers and also walks the child through the steps of the mass (what to say and when to do it, etc.). I memorized mine when I was little and got in trouble as an altergirl because you could here me saying the mass with the priest over the sound system. :P

As far as what is behind him, it looks to me like he may be standing in front of a pillar in the church. If you're going to fudge that strange object I would go with a cross.

Good luck!

Kerry

Kraellin · #13 09-24-2006, 12:06 AM

ok, so who else has found the house/shed?

also, candy, did you do the scanning on these or are they sent this way to you? there is an 8 bit blocking on the whole picture. or is this just from .jpg compression here on rp?

craig

leanan`si · #14 09-24-2006, 11:49 AM

My impressions -

a prayer book with Rosary lying through it .. a common way of holding them together particularly for photos. Threaded through the book prevents the beads sliding around and keeps the Rosary in place. I'd say it was a First Communion rather than Confirmation as well.

The background - I get the feeling it's the public entry to a convent, most likely a convent school where the child would have been prepared for First Communion. The box I see as a donation/offeratory box which makes sense if this is the public entry to the convent. The grilled door also makes sense in this context. The mystery object, a bell pull? Totally in context, but I do find the quasi-circular shape odd.

I find the lower right side mysterious .. it could be a reception table perhaps.

Just my impressions ..

leanan

klassylady25 · #15 09-24-2006, 04:37 PM

Craig, the picture comes preset. The only thing that I do to share it with ya'll is to get it to 100k. The rest is set by the people at OPR. The information about resizing is as follows:

I apologize for coming into this late, but please don't resize the image. There is a method to our madness. First we don't scan the damaged originals. We photograph them on copystands with pro-level digital cameras using raw file formats.

The reason that we do this is so that we can reproduce the best print possible. We are also returning the same size print. Meaning, if the hurricane victim brings in an 8x10 damaged original she's going to get an 8x10 restoration. Same goes for any size prints. We got quite a few that were twice the size of a 16x20 (which is one of the reasons that we don't scan the damaged originals).

If this image is a large file size, it's because it's meant to be printed in large format.