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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: CelticMom on Monday 06 June 11 15:42 BST (UK)
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this picture is on a glass plate, not paper. Most likely taken in Edinburgh (Midlothian area)
I have an idea of which ancestors it is, but need it dated to be sure.
Would also be grateful if someone could remove the imperfections.
thank you in advance
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Hi Shevy...I Hope this is okay for you.
Carol
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Nice one Treetotal.
This is an inquiry stemming strictly from curiosity about this interesting photo & an interest in learning more about sleuthing out the stories old photos can tell.
Given that this is on glass plate, would the people need to be flipped to reflect how they were actually seated? The reason I ask is that the woman on the right has a ring on her third finger of her left hand. It made me think she may be mother to the younger woman (given the pose holding hands), but if the photo were flipped, it wouldn't be a wedding ring.
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from me
Irene
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Thanks mystic...not sure about the flipping though.... but Jim or China will put us right.
A sepia version.
Carol
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Is it just me or does the hand on the shoulder look like it doesn't belong to the woman on the left ??? :-\
Terry
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The fingers look to have the same shaped tips as the younger woman's, but the hand does appear at an odd angle, & it makes one wonder why we can't see any of the black shawl showing behind the older woman's arm where the younger one's would have been extended.
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wow thanks everyone I never expected so many restorations so quickly and they are all brilliant.
I have no idea if the photo is flipped or not, it is completely black/brown on the other side of the glass.
The greeny colour surrounding them looks to me like it has blanked out what ever is behind them, kind of like a badly done photo editing job, hence the strange floating hand on shoulder and the why their hair is cut off in areas, plus the area where the woman on the right, arm is resting
This plate was in my grandmothers possession (she recently passed away) and it was in a completely smashed/broken frame, due to how it was stored.
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If you follow the shadow down the edge of the sleeve were it meets the front of the shawl it goes right down to where they are holding hands.....no way her hand could be on the shoulder. ???
Terry
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I couldn't have put it better myself Terry..It looks like the images of these two ladies have been taken from a larger group photo to create this shot.
Just my opinion...The whole composition felt wrong when I was restoring it.
Carol
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Hi Carol,
I was restoring as well and I thought this just ain't right, the angle was all wrong, could be what you are thinking though???
Terry
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Hi Terry...Yes it does feel wrong doesn't it...I think others have been painted out of the photo.
Carol
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yes I wondered that myself, the coloured background is definately blacking out whatever was behind the ladies.
I wonder why that would be done?
Any ideas of date of photo and ages of women? to enable me to try and identify who they are.
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What an odd looking photo.
An 1850's ambrotype.Could be any part of that decade from 1851 on.
The young woman is wearing a Dolman,a cape with slits in for the arms.You can just detect the white part of her Bertha along the arm of the older lady.
It looks like at some later stage part of the backing has been replaced with some hand tinting.Quite often the backs of these are dark & it may have been done to bring out the subjects.Very amateurish.
The photo is the right way round as you can see from the way the Dolman's buttoned.
I believe some photographers used a corrective process to reverse this type of photo although I've no evidence.
Sometimes women slipped their wedding ring onto the right hand to give the impression it was on the left.
I think the latter half of the decade for a date.
A lovely photo all the same.
jim
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One from me
Terry
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Probably looked something like this originally.
jim
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What an odd looking photo.
An 1850's ambrotype.Could be any part of that decade from 1851 on.
The young woman is wearing a Dolman,a cape with slits in for the arms.You can just detect the white part of her Bertha along the arm of the older lady.
It looks like at some later stage part of the backing has been replaced with some hand tinting.Quite often the backs of these are dark & it may have been done to bring out the subjects.Very amateurish.
The photo is the right way round as you can see from the way the Dolman's buttoned.
I believe some photographers used a corrective process to reverse this type of photo although I've no evidence.
Sometimes women slipped their wedding ring onto the right hand to give the impression it was on the left.
I think the latter half of the decade for a date.
A lovely photo all the same.
jim
thanks for the informative reply Jim, most helpful. It will hopefully help me identify the two ladies. Do you think the hand on shoulder belongs to someone else blacked out?
Does anyone have any idea on the ages of the two ladies?
thank you Terry for another beautiful restoration and thank you to everyone else for their equally beautiful ones.
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Probably looked something like this originally.
jim
Jim that is the exact kind of frame it was in, completely destroyed though unfortunately :(, it had completely shattered into an almost powder and unsaveable apart from the plate.
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Yes, second half 1850s is a good guess :-)
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Nice one Jim... 8)
Carol
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The hand belongs to the young woman who I would say is late teens-early 20's.I've highlighted it so you can get a better view.The white bit is the sleeve of her Bertha.
The older woman looks early-mid 40's.
Thanks Carol.
jim
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thank you all, that should help me identify them
and thanks Jim for the close up of the arm. It definitely was filled in badly on the glass plate
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I've given the sleeve a bit more white to make it stand out more.
The alternative looks more natural but just did this to see what it looked like so you can bin it if you like.
jim
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so do you think the older lady would of been born about 1805-1815?
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I've given the sleeve a bit more white to make it stand out more.
The alternative looks more natural but just did this to see what it looked like so you can bin it if you like.
jim
yes I think I actually prefer the alternative. The hand on shoulder just doesnt look right.
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1810-15 ish I would imagine.
jim
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Just come back to this thread again to reread comments, I never managed to identify who they are in my tree, so wanted to have another read to see if it can help me pinpoint who they might be.
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could the dob for the ladies be 1800 and 1826 do you think?
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Be most thankful if anyone could gives suggestion for ages, still struggling to work out who they are. Although i do believe I know which branch of my tree now.
Do we agree about 1810ish for the elder woman and 1825 ish for younger?