Family photo restoration 1970’s

They say no pain no gain. Never thought of that saying relating to restoring a photograph but I sure do now.
I had a visit from two lovely ladies who presented this photo to me asking if I could repair it. At first glance it looked moderately simple though on closer inspection it looked a bit of a nightmare. Many strange marks developed after apparently being under glass for perhaps 30 years or more. Looking at the marks I suspect they were caused by frequently cleaning the photo frame which may have moved the picture slightly over time.

The damage was exacerbated when I scanned it in. It wasn’t possible to remove it from the cardboard backing which meant the scanner light created reflections all over the photo. So I had to dig into my bag of tricks and pull out a great macro that I’ve had for a while now.
It worked very well getting rid of all the reflections and also some of the small lighter marks.

The arms and legs on this family photo restoration presented a real task for me but with lots of patience, care and attention, I was able to clear most of it away.
Stains and scratches are pretty simple for me to erase yet marks like these in the photo took a lot more time.

Family photo restoration complete.
This is the end result, very much liked and appreciated by my customer which is the most important thing.
All it needs now is some colour. I love to add a little colour if the photo begs for it and this one screamed at me for that little extra touch.

So the family photo restoration is now complete and looking much more happy with the added colour. Looks great to me so I hope you readers like it too.