Advice needed, not sure what to do...

As some of you may know from previous posts, I'm in the process of restoring some old photos from my Dad's Navy years. One question that I have been asking myself from the start is, should I straighten the horizons in them? Here is a link to one of my other posts with a photo that is not level. I could very easily "fix" this in PS, but should I? I think it would look better, but I'm just not sure I want to do it.

What are your thoughts? Would you straighten them if you were the one restoring them?

No I wouldn't straighten the horizon, since it adds to the 'feel' of the shots that you're on a ship afterall, bobbing in the ocean

Straighten it. I guarantee you that once they see what you can do to the images to improve them they will also request other small changes, like straightening the horizon.

Hmmmm, thats a tough choice. Nice restoring by the way.

I too restored some old family photos. My great-grandfather owned a saloon here in Texas in the late 1800's early 1900's. I scanned the images, and touched them up. However, there were several things that I had thought about changing, thinking that it would enhance the images overall. In the end, I decided to keep as much of the original photo in its original state as possible.

I thought about my children, and future generations looking at these same images many years down the road, and decided that I wanted them to see the true original image, just as I had seen them.

Thats just me though!

Kathy

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Originally Posted by mjs1973

As some of you may know from previous posts, I'm in the process of restoring some old photos from my Dad's Navy years. One question that I have been asking myself from the start is, should I straighten the horizons in them? Here is a link to one of my other posts with a photo that is not level. I could very easily "fix" this in PS, but should I? I think it would look better, but I'm just not sure I want to do it.

What are your thoughts? Would you straighten them if you were the one restoring them?

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Guess it depends, IMO I would not in pics 1 and 2 because it just gives it an out to sea look. the subject is the ship, I didn't notice the horizon was off much, but it gives a feel for the curvature of the earth.

In pics 3 and 4 I would since the horizon is unavoidable and looks to be the subjuct.

But then again old pic hold something extra for me when they aren't manipulated, it's like your father took them and a part of him is in that, If it were me, I'd want to keep as much of that as I could..., unless your father thinks it would be a good idea..

[QUOTE=Flight]your father took them and a part of him is in that,QUOTE]

This is the biggest reasont that I asked...

Thanks everyone for your input!

Maybe not so tough a choice,

After all a photograph is a moment frozen in time and my first thought would be to preserve the integrity of the image.

Altered or enhanced images become new files of present day and loose in my opinion the mood and feeling of being there at that specific time in history.

With the image samples you have removed the stain and mold marks but still left the feeling of an old photograph, you've don a great job BTW in the preservation of time.

Altering the image by removing the stain, mold, cracking or any other deformation of the image after it was created to me would be acceptable.

Changing components of the composition (tilted horizon) would not be acceptable again in my opinion.

As far as the color I believe by leaving a restoration, as close to the original as possible is best which it appears you have done.

The images look old and original and haven't been altered which is what any artist wants to achieve in the restoration of a painting or other artifact.

In brief clean them up but don't alter them

Great work

Robert from Canada

The problem with straightening a horizon is that you end up cropping the shot to do it. The more straightening needed, the more cropping you get.

In the first pair of shots, I'd say it's not worth doing it because it's pretty close and there's not much horizon in it anyway. The little bit of cropping you'll wind up with may be more of a problem than the fix, too.

In the second pair, I'd say it's a good idea. You're not losing any information that adds to the photograph, so you're not altering what your dad was trying to show us. You'll end up cropping a fair amount but should be OK.

Nice work, BTW! I'm sure your dad and family will love to see these.

Thanks again for all the comments everyone.

Steve, you hit on the main concerns that I have been facing. Do I want to crop these photos or not... I'm still not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm glad that you brought up the very points that I'm trying to decide on. I have till the end of August to get these done, so I still have time to think about it.

Thanks again everyone.