Welcome To My Nightmare

Of the five Polaroids I was given to restore, I saved the worst for last. I was dreading getting started on this one because this photo looked like it had been run over by a truck. All the white flecks across the photo are where the dried emulsion has chipped away, exposing the white backing paper underneath. All that missing information would have to be reconstructed.

Original Photo

Fortunately, most of the damage was showing in the grassy area of the photo. That made it a little easier to clone in pixels from similar areas. There was relatively little damage to the little boy's face and clothing, which is always harder to repair. I overlaid a grid on the photo dividing it into 16 sections, and at high magnification, repaired one grid section at a time.

Restored Photo

After the repair work to the damaged emulsion was done, I fiddled with the contrast to counteract the fading. All the tedious work is rewarded by the satisfaction of seeing the finished restoration, and another memory preserved.