This project is to be a gift from my customer to her husband for Christmas. She borrowed this photo of his dad, who passed away about 10 years ago, from her sister-in-law, and asked me to remove the background people and make him the focal point of the photo. The original was a bit faded and grainy in focus but by scanning it at a very high resolution, it was possible to do what was necessary.

I used elements from the background to fill in the places where I removed people, and extended building, ground and grass elements. Then I separated him from the background and blurred the background a bit to make it more out of focus, eliminating any signs that changes had taken place. I enlarged and color-adjusted him along the way.

Her response when I sent the final photo? Magic!

Qualifying as one of the more curious things I’ve been asked to do was this project. The young man wanted a photo of himself with George Bush – and asked me to remove the female colleague from the shot. Of course, in the real photo, I didn’t blur any faces but I thought it prudent for the purpose of my gallery. I couldn’t help but wonder what the story was behind this one – other than that her pink top clashes. But I don’t ask questions – it’s usually spouses and exes I’m removing! In hindsight,  I wish I had buttoned both their suit jackets…

This is the original photo:

This is the result:

The woman in this photo visited the Bacardi Distillery in Puerto Rico and wanted a photo to remember the trip. So she asked me to clean up this photo on the left, remove some people and make a second, closed door. I also lessened a wicked sunburn on her face, brightened up the photo overall and cropped it.