Here's the original. I swear I didn't write that "g" in the upper left-hand corner. I think I will blame it on my big brother who is also a g. *grin*
My assignment in class was to list four goals for retouching, then mAKe tHeM HaPPeN. As you can see, the orignial photo was pretty badly damaged. Fixing rips, wrinkles and smudges was my first goal. I also tried to improve the tonal values, and got rid of that "g" (ok.... it does kind of look like my little-kid handwriting, but still.... it COULD have been my big brother, right???). Finally, I replaced the red stripped border frame with a less decorative, less formal one. I wanted the orignial photo "fixed", but I still wanted it to look old, too... like something my dad maybe would have carried in his wallet. To accoomplish this I added back in a sepia filter.
Below is my retouched version of the photo. I'm sure those of you that are experienced in retouching can see a million ways to make it better but, being new at this, I am really happy with how it turned out.
My dad would frequently comment on how much Unit 3's eyes looked like my mom's. This photo really shows that to be true. So beautiful.
As I was working on this project, I kept thinking that maybe I would remember what my mom sounded like, or what her mannerisms or expressions were like. I kept waiting for her face to feel familiar to me in some way but, if it did, it was an extremely distant sort of familiar.
Since doing this project, I have been repeatedly pulling memories of my dad's voice, hands, walk, and smile into my mind... as crystal clear as possible. I want him etched there. I want him to always be familiar to me.
