Today my husband and I went to a town in Pennsylvania that has a number of Antique shops known for carrying rare and early pieces. I don’t go often as the prices can be quite high, but you can find some wonderful and unusual things. I was lucky to find this amazing Palmistry hand advertising card, it was damaged so I got a fairly good price on it. I thought you might like to see the progression of taking a piece like this and fixing it up digitally. I don’t have photoshop unfortunately but I have Paint Shop Pro and it works quite nicely for me. The image above is the corrected image.
The one above is the original. You can see it was stained and torn and the top layer of paper on the tip of the middle finger had peeled off. The color is also a bit faded.
This is after I have sharpened up the image and adjusted the color slightly with the auto correct button (my favorite button, it’s like magic!) Next I use the “make-up” button to correct the tiny torn areas.
The image above is the final correction. I use the “make-up” button again to carefully take the stains out, making it smaller as I go to get in the tiny areas with out loosing any detail. Then I use the “Clone” tool to put the tip of the finger back on.
Above shows the results of one more step. I have take out the background using the “Magic Wand” tool (all Fairy’s should have one of those, don’t you think?!), and saved the image as a PNG file. Now this image is ready to be used for digital applications.
Lastly here’s the back, it only needed a small amount of touch up. The whole process probably took me about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. It can be a bit time consuming but the results are well worth it. Make sure you click on the images to get the largest size versions. I hope you enjoy this fun piece!
XXXOOO
Thrifty Miss Priss says
July 13, 2009 at 2:27 amKaren I love to hear about how and where you find your images! you do an AMAZING job of re constructing them…and then offering them to all of us for free! It means the world to me! I LOVE your images!
Thank you so much for taking time to do this for all of us!
XoXo
Robin
ShellyRaeWood says
July 13, 2009 at 4:37 amooh Karen,
YOu always have the best graphics!! This is superb!! Thank you for your generosity and talent!! :::Smiles:::
Nessa73 says
July 13, 2009 at 12:33 pmWOW, you did a fantastic job on that, I am going to have to look about for these lil gems, I have found some of my Nanna’s old easter cards and birthday cards, plus a couple of old birthday postcards too, I may scan them and ad them to my blog…Thanks for showing us all your lovely finds..
Such a Wondrous Place this Faery Space says
July 13, 2009 at 1:10 pmNot only are you infinitely gifted in your searches for exquisite graphics, you instruct well, too. I am so glad to know your site. Blessings dear.
karlascottage.typepad.com says
July 13, 2009 at 2:22 pmI have recently discovered Picassa editing and adore it. Its been such fun to use. I’d like to try Photoshop someday, but am pretty happy right now with Piccasa. Isn’t editing fun? Your palm pic sure did improve.
xashee's corner says
July 13, 2009 at 3:06 pmthank you so much for sharing such GREAT graphics!!! 🙂 Have a MARVELOUS Monday!!
Etsy Studios says
July 13, 2009 at 5:06 pmWow Karen! Amazing. Thank you so much for your time and for sharing. I am so happy I found your blog! I can’t wait to share with others!
Best wishes~Kerry.
THE SPICE CUPBOARD says
July 13, 2009 at 6:44 pmLOVE LOVE LOVE this hand…so sweet of you to take the time to share your hard work. I will just have to use this as a “hand-out” for our Halloween event !!!! Thanks!! Judy
For the love of a teddy bear says
July 13, 2009 at 10:47 pmThat was neat Karen, you did a nice job of restoration! I’m not that good with the computer….have a nice day! hugs, Jennifer
Kim says
July 14, 2009 at 12:17 amWow! Hope you know how much your efforts are appreciated. Thank you for making these quality images available to all.
Rosemary says
July 14, 2009 at 1:21 amWow Karen,
What a great find!! You did a wonderful job restoring it!!
Thanks for doing that for us.
It looks like another Halloween project for me.
Rosemary
Karen- The Graphics Fairy says
July 14, 2009 at 2:39 amYou are all so sweet!!! Your dear comments made my day! Thank you so much.
Karen
The Dreaming Bear says
July 14, 2009 at 4:23 amWow! So glad to find you! What amazing images! Thanks for your generosity and thoughtfulness! Love your blog!
Junie Moon says
July 14, 2009 at 2:27 pmThis is great! I looked for a graphic like this a few years ago but never found one. I’ve been wanting to do a little project with it and now here it is. Thank you so much.
Jann says
July 15, 2009 at 7:58 pmWow–this is fantastic! You did a super job fixing this up, and I love the image!
Jann says
July 15, 2009 at 8:05 pmI love what you did with this–you are very talented–I am just trying to learn the basics with my photo program. Love the image . . .
ByLightOfMoon says
July 16, 2009 at 1:46 amYou do awesome work and many thanks for sharing the steps you used to make it FINE!
Blessings to you!
Smiles, Cyndi
iva yaneva says
July 16, 2009 at 11:01 amthis was very helpful! thank you 🙂
Suzy says
July 21, 2009 at 12:39 amWhat a fun piece! I tried to read mine…scary! lol I love all you share. You are a really good fairy!
~*~Magpie's Nest says
July 27, 2009 at 9:40 pmLove what you do with your magic wand Karen….it truly IS magic!
You make it sound almost easy.
I have a “thing” for hands 🙂
Thespa says
July 31, 2009 at 1:21 pmWell, I for one am certainly happy that you take so much care in preserving these really unique images and bringing them to us. You do a great job. Thank you so much for all your time!
plumbbob says
November 16, 2009 at 8:12 pmThanks for the retouching tips.
I’m not familiar with the make-up tool. Could you please fill me in on where to find it.
Thanks, and thanks for sharing all of these wonderful images.
Karen- The Graphics Fairy says
November 16, 2009 at 10:18 pmHi Plumbbob,
If you use Paint Shop Pro, the makeup button is along the left side of the screen. It looks just like Makeup that you would buy at the store, for your face. It’s a little rectangular container looking thing, with what looks to be light and dark foundation makeup with a powder brush.
Rebecca Sherman says
September 17, 2011 at 12:42 amThis is fantastic; you really did a great job restoring it! Thank you so much… Becky
Lynn says
November 8, 2015 at 2:18 pmThank you so much for this & taking your time to “clean” it up!