New Daddy (Photo and Drawing Posterized)

New Daddy (Photo and Drawing Posterized) Originally uploaded by randubnick

This image began as a snapshot of my father as a new daddy; the baby in the picture is me at one month old. (I found the photo today while looking at some family albums.) In the snapshot, there was too much shadow on my dad's face and too much light on the baby's face (my face), so neither face could be seen clearly. But I liked the content and the composition, so I thought maybe I could salvage the photo. I scanned the image into the computer, but the scanned version was actually a little bit worse in terms of dark and light areas. I adjusted the contrast, adjusted selected areas, sharpened the focus, and even posterized the image in Painter IX. But still, the faces in the photo weren't really visible, one in shadow and one in bright light. I was sad and frustrated that I couldn't solve the problem, until I remembered that I can draw! So I used Painter's digital pastel to draw in the faces (my dad's and my own). I used the original photo as a model, but wasn't really trying for a likeness, just the general idea. Then I re-posterized the two faces, and posterized the whole image again. I like the result, and even though I didn't manage to restore the original photo, I am happy because I made something new from an image of the past.