Image 003: 6¼ by 9¼ inches
Some of you already have a copy of the restoration by Helix Camera that Alan and I arranged in 2002. I posted that here; but I also did a new restoration, starting from a scan of Helena's print.
The new restoration avoids a few issues found in the Helix restoration: The darks were too dark, losing detail in Bubbe's dress, for instance. Samuel's face was darkened unnecessarily in dodging and burning. (Dodging lightens a selected area; burning darkens it.) Some tears were not edited out. And the final image was not sepia toned. (Toning was pretty standard from the mid-1800's to the 1920's; not just for aesthetic reasons, but because it stabilized the chemicals, increasing the longevity of the print. It's a safe bet that the original photograph was sepia-toned.)
Helena's print is not an original print (one made directly from the negative). The same is true of the print from which the Helix restoration was made. Rather, they are both indirect copies, made by photographing an original print. If anyone has the original print, I would love to scan it and do a restoration directly from that. That would yield the best results.
