This picture had been hanging on a sunny wall for years. The client needed a photo that could be used in a museum display of medical instruments of the period, plus the family wanted a good portrait of Grampa.

The original is faded from sunlight, and was too small. There is a green band where the frame covered part of the background. Nobody in the family has ever had hair quite that red.

A high-resolution scan allowed enlarging the picture without any loss of quality. Correcting exposure and contrast bring the picture back into balance. Replacing the background allows display in the intended frame. Adding the name and life dates identitifies him for those who will see the display.

Of course we can never replace a loved one. Maybe, however, we can create a memory to carry along with us, a reminder of happier times.

These composites were fairly straightforward. The source photos were from the same settings, so the lighting was fairly consistent. Once the subjects were isolated they could be resized, color adjusted, and fit together. The backgrounds were constructed. For father and son, we were able to work from the originals, with some copying to eliminate the distracting bar behind them. The father and daughter photo didn't have that option, so a gradient was set behind them.

This collage was done in celebration of my father's life. It was very well received by the people who attended his memorial service. Most only knew him later in life, but got a nice sense of his life from the pictures.

I began working on it when he became seriously ill, but of course most of it was done after he had died. I would recommend beginning such a project early! You'll be better able to find and select photos, plan and execute the project, and it will be less stressful - believe me.

The finished collage is 16 by 20 inches, in a simple black frame. Yours could be sized and displayed as you prefer, but this worked well.

Several of the pictures were scanned from prints, the others were digital. Nearly all had to be cropped, resized and sharpened. Many of them needed contrast and coloration corrections as well.

The layout was more or less chronological, but there were some exceptions for a more harmonious result. The grouping of monochromatics at the top and color photos at the bottom was coincidental.

With a project such as this we would of course suspend our usual file deletion policies, and hold the working files for completion when the final date is known.