help with lower right hand corner

[unimatrix001]

This is an image a friend sent me. People in picture are no relation to me or her. she asked me if i could restore it, as usual i said i would give it a try. While looking at the picture i noticed that there is a child in the lower right hand corner very dark. I have tried several different options to bring this child out but to no avail. Any help would be much appreciated. Here is a link to the orginal photo.
http://static.flickr.com/120/263451125_f64cf62baf_o.jpg

I have tried levels, shadow/highlights, curves, invert with soft light. nothing seems to work for me. maybe i am just not patient enough.

[Kraellin]

hi unimatrix001 and welcome to RP.

cant bring back what isnt there. i can see a hand, a face and a tiny bit of an outline of hair, but that's it. and, all of that is in prety bad shape. what you're not seeing is no longer there. it's shot.

you have two options; you can just worry about what is there or, try to build something back and that's going to be mostly guesswork.

craig

[mistermonday]

Unimatrix, welcome to Retouch Pro. The image you posted looks like it has undergone some processing already. The image is grayscale and the shadows & highlights have been clipped. There is little range of luminosity in that child in the corner. I would recommend a new scan. Even though the orig print is B&W, scan it in color at high resolution. Turn OFF all of the scanner's auto settings and don't make any adjustments - just bring the unprocessed scanner data into Photoshop or other editing s/w and work from there.
Regards, Murray

[DCobb]

This is an attempt to rebuild the picture. First, lightened the hand with the dodge tool. Clone and healing tool for border. Borrowed clothing from one of the other kids. Face still needs more smothing out. I had to correct my picture after Neb posted below mine. It looked like a possible ghost image to me when I first looked at it.

DC

[nebgranny]

I have been looking at the photo and the first thing I thought of was ...it looks like a ghost in the picture..really ..I am not into this sort of thing..but that is what it looks like to me!! What do you all think?? Crazy or not..do reply!! Neb

[unimatrix001]

DCobb you did a wonderful job. iWhen i tried doing this i didnt think of using the dodge tool, that one slipped my mind. This is an old photo of a family during the oil boom in smackover arkansas. My friend works at a museum and all the pictures have been donated. some better then othersi appreciate all your suggestions and help. thank you all so much for your time and effort. And nebgranny i kinda got that same impression when i first looked at it.