Who's Hidden in That Tintype?

Mystery tintype, before
and after enhancing

My first adventure in mystery photo land has turned up an unexpected discovery!

This adventure combined the sharpening power of the new MyHeritage.com photo enhancement tool with the cleanup and lightening capabilities of Restore software from Vivid-Pix.

Scanning and Cleaning Up The Tintype

It all started with a dark tintype, which I inherited without any frame or identification. I despaired of getting anything from it, and had never even tried to scan it.

Yesterday, I scanned it at high resolution (with my trusty CanoScan 8400F flatbed). Top right is the result. At this point, I could see the shadow of a seated woman and a standing man in a bowler hat. Of course I had to continue!

My next step was to lighten the scan slightly with my Picasa image management software (alas, no longer offered by or supported by Google). More of the people could be seen. I was feeling encouraged to continue with an even more powerful tool.

Vivid-Pix and My Heritage to the Rescue

The image was still so badly degraded that the faces were not visible. So I put the digital image through Restore by Vivid-Pix.

Restore gave me 9 possible images from which to choose when it fixed the image. I chose the one in which the people were most delineated. After a bit of tinkering with the software's tools, I could definitely see where a frame used to be over the tintype, and more of the faces. That's the bottom image above.

Finally, I imported the fixed image into MyHeritage's photo enhancement tool. The result was much clearer faces and clothing. The tintype had been rescued!

Comparing Known Faces for Identification

Look at the man's face--long and lean, with ears sticking out a bit. The woman's face has distinctive eyes and eyebrows. I had a suspicion now.

I uploaded to MyHeritage two photos of my paternal grandparents, Henrietta Mahler (below left, just before their marriage) and Isaac Burk (below right, 25 years after their marriage).

After sharpening their facial features, and comparing with the super-enhanced scanned tintype, I found myself unexpectedly staring into the younger faces of my grandparents, probably around the time of their marriage, pre-1910. That's my best guess on identification.

Wow. Very unexpected to be able to finally tease out recognizable faces from this degraded tintype, well more than a century old. For me, it's also a great demonstration of how combining new tech tools can help my genealogy efforts.




This week's prompt from #52Ancestors is  "unexpected." We're already at week 25, nearly halfway through the year of Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy prompts.

Colorizing the Past

A few days ago, I tried the new MyHeritage in Color feature, which automatically colorizes sepia or black and white photos.

Having a bumper crop of old family photos, I also experimented on the same photos using Restore by Vivid-Pix and Picasa (no longer offered by Google, but software I've used and liked for years).

Original black and white scan of Wood house

I began with a scan of a black-and-white photo of my husband's grandfather, James Edgar Wood and my hubby's grandmother, Mary Slatter Wood (see original at left).

They're standing in front of a home that James built in Cleveland, Ohio, more than a century ago.

James posted a sign "Jas. E. Wood, Carpenter and Builder" which is visible next to the bicycle in front of the house.




The MyHeritage in Color version is below, right. I was thrilled to see the colorized sign, as much as the people and the building.

Black and white colorized by MyHeritage in Color

Notice the small white widget at bottom left of the MyHeritage colorized photo, intended to distinguish the adapted version from the original.

This is important because genealogists might otherwise mistake the newly colorized photo for an original.







I also used Restore by Vivid-Pix to see how the original b/w scan could be improved. Here's the result:

Black and white improved by Restore by Vivid-Pix

Both the Vivid-Pix and the MyHeritage versions show lots of detail and clarity, even if they are NOT originals. (The Vivid-Pix enhanced versions go into a special "Vivid" folder, leaving the originals untouched).

Original b/w of Minnie and Edward, 1930s

Next, I tried MyHeritage colorization on an old b/w of my husband's great aunt Minnie Steiner Halbedel and great uncle Edward Halbedel, in their backyard in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, holding two youngsters. Above, the original scan of this photo, taken in the late 1930s. Below, the MyHeritage colorization of this same photo. For quick, no-fuss colorization, it looks really good!

MyHeritage colorized version of Minnie & Ed

Finally, I tested MyHeritage's colorizing on a photo of another home under construction by hubby's Grandpa James E. Wood. Below is the original scan of a b/w photo taken on February 18, 1915, exactly 105 years ago today.

Original b/w scan of James E. Wood's house under construction, 1915

Next, the MyHeritage colorized version, which brings out the color of the bricks and lumber as well as making the people look real-life.

MyHeritage colorized version of Wood house under construction, 2015

And then I used Picasa to slightly tilt the color toward yellow, hoping to add to the natural colors of the lumber and bricks.

Picasa enhanced version of MyHeritage colorization of 1915 house under construction

Color always catches the eye of younger relatives, and that's a plus when I'm trying to get them interested in family history. In all, I'm excited by the many possibilities for working with old family photos.