Old picture of Mom

[robtd1ntx]

This is a picture of my grandmother holding my mom taken in 1927. I started with an almost black photo with very little detail. I'd like to improve it more if possible. I'm using GIMP and am new to restoration. Any help (in baby steps please) would be greatly appreciated.

[HroadhogD1]

you will need to post a bigger photo.

[TommyO]

Robtd1ntx,
If you started with a very dark image, then you have done well so far. A few questions:

- is the upper right damaged or did you have more trouble in that area;
- was the image scanned in color mode, or did you simply convert it to grayscale;
- do you have the original.

Even black and white images should be scanned in color. There are subtle differences in the resulting color channels that can be exploited to bring out more detail.

[Kraellin]

i dont remember what the gimp has for filters, but in paint shop pro i'd be looking at 'fade correction', 'clarify', 'shadows/midtones/highlights', levels, curves, and brightness/contrast to try to get more contast and detail.

but, before you do any of those, convert this to 8 bit rgb rather than grayscale.

[aartist]

I agree with HroadhogD1, bigger photo needed for us to help.