Like that song by Visage, gradually all photographs ‘Fade To Grey’ and discolour (colour cast) and yet I was horrified to see that my Polaroids, taken in 1976 (just 42 years ago), are almost all washed out and totally grey now. They are losing definition and fading away in front of my eyes. They have been in an album and not stored anywhere with any extremes. There is a chance that they can be saved using Photoshop (or similar) as you can resurrect photographs with just a few settings but you really need to act fast to get your Polaroids scanned and repaired as soon as you can or you’ll probably have a grey square with a white border to show for all your photographic efforts. Unlock My Past’s Photo Scanning Service starts from just 25p per print. If you’d like a free no obligation quotation use our online form and we will get back to promptly with a quote.
How artificial intelligence can edit your pictures
From a report, today at the BBC News website comes this latest use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) as it uses semantic soft segmentation which automatically separates objects in a picture. “Researchers at MIT Csail have created an artificial intelligence (AI) that makes editing your pictures simpler.”
Anyone who uses Photoshop will recognise the advantages of having layers automatically sorted for you when copying around human or other objects so that you can work on images.
WIll it make my work easier or make me redundant?
At the end of the clip (follow the link) it suggests that they will be able to apply this to movies/videos which will open up endless possibilities in both the static and moving image world.
What do you think? Will AI be helpful to us in the future or take over your job and the world?
Support for Local & Live 2018
We were once again delighted to be able to support Local & Live 2018 at Calverley Park Tunbridge Wells over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Our video was playing on Saturday and Sunday whilst hundreds of acts played across the main stage and satellite venues around Tunbridge Wells. It’s a pleasure to support Paul Dunton and everyone who works so hard at Local & Live.
Unlock My Past Supporting Local & Live 2017
This is a small version of our video that has been showing on the giant screen at Local & Live 2017 in Calverley Grounds, Tunbridge Wells. An annual event to showcase young artists in and around the Tunbridge Wells area we were lucky to be given the opportunity to have our video showing during the Festival.
Family Histories – Order Now For Christmas
I know, I’m sorry for mentioning the “Ch” word at this time of year but it is important that if you are thinking of giving someone an unusual present; a family history perhaps, you give me plenty of time to research and prepare it for you.
An initial review is FREE, that’s right, it’s free so that I can check the records and see if I can find the ancestors in question. Click for a Free evaluation and I can get back to you with an assessment of what I can do. There is a price list HERE which gives you a rough idea of what sort of costs are involved.
It is far too early to wish you a Merry Christmas (of course) but if you feel that you might like to give the unusual present of a Family History, including tree, written pedigree and other historical facts perhaps from a Census or Certificate, do please get in touch with us. You can use our Free Discovery Lite evaluation or contact us directly by email or give us a call on 0333 011 8514 (calls are charged at local rates).
Goodbye VHS
The BBC has reported “RIP VHS” that this month will see the last videocassette recorder (VCR) produced in Japan. It’s the end of an era for those of us who grew up, setting up recording schedules and coming home to find out that you had not put a tape in the unit! There was always the chance that someone would tape over your favourite show see my Family Guy post for what not to do to your wedding video!
Now might be a good time to think about moving all those old images off of VCR and onto DVD or Blu-ray as VHS tapes are getting on a bit and deteriorating sitting in their cupboards lost and forgotten. VHS Tapes have a limited shelf life and if you remember recording something back in 1990 it’s already 26 years ago! The more you play a VHS tape the more likely it is to degrade and loose quality so it may well be a good idea to move the images off whilst they are still recognisable.
War Records and Diaries
We were recently able to help a lady to find her husband’s service records with the Royal Corps of Signals, Middlesex Yeomanry and to then obtain copies of his various unit’s War Diaries so that a complete picture of his service throughout the Second World War could be built up. He fought through Africa and the Middle East, up through Sicily and Italy and went on to land in D-Day, fighting right the way through to Germany. Whilst it is unusual to find servicemen mentioned in the diaries he had been mentioned a number of times and so we were able to construct his entire service record from enlisting through to being de-mobbed in 1946. The War Diaries themselves were photographed at the National Archives and presented in a series of electronic picture files.
You can apply for a Service Record if you are a member of the family of the Service man or woman, you don’t necessarily have to have their Service number although this does make searching and returning your query faster. Here is a link to the relevant Government guidance.
If you would like us to assist in researching a loved one’s Service / Military Records, please drop us a line.
What Do You Do when You Only Have One Photograph Of Someone?
What Do You Do when You Only Have One Photograph Of Someone and you want to make a portrait from it? It sounds unusual but perhaps you have a relative or friend who you’d like to make a portrait of but you don’t have a photo of them on their own. We were recently commissioned to produce a portrait from a photograph that had the subject lady on as well as another person. Unlock My Past was approached to see if we could help.
Here is the Before Photograph:
Our brief was to isolate the lady and make a portrait photo of her. This involved cutting the lady out and changing her position, drawing in her right arm which is missing from the first photograph as it is behind the male subject and produce a picture of her sitting in a chair. At this point the photograph looks like this.
The lady has been cut out from the background of the original photograph and she has been straightened up and her right arm drawn in and blended with her clothing. Now we needed to find a chair to sit her on. We took an old colour family photograph and adapted it turning it black and white and inverting it.
The final result is a testament to our specialist, you can’t see the join. Note the shadowing added to the wall behind the subject.
Our customer was delighted with the result. We produced two photographs. This one as a square photograph and one in portrait format.
We are now Official Sponsors of Paul Dunton & Guests
We are absolutely delighted to announce that we are Official Sponsors of Paul Dunton and Guests supporting local music by candlelight at the Grey Lady, Tunbridge Wells.
Paul presents a superb series of candlelit showcases of the local area’s finest soloists and acoustic bands. With four acts on the bill at each show representing a multitude of musical styles and genres, audiences are treated to an exceptional night of local music culture, song writing and musicianship.
The talented James Kirby at the Grey Lady with our unlockmypast logo proudly displayed on stage.
Dan Clews providing a great supporting set.
It’s gratifying to help preserve a special moment
I’ve just had the pleasure of delivering a number of transferred VHS videos to a customer. What was nice was to hear that the only moving pictures of his late sister were on one of the videos we transferred and he would now, once again, be able to see her. A while back we were delivering a project where we had transferred some old cine film to DVD. We sat through the “première” and suddenly our customer said that there were pictures of his dad, young and thin as he remembered him. He hadn’t seen the film for perhaps 40 or more years.
It really makes our work turn from “just work” to being a privilege when you can bring back these memories to share again from old cine films, videos or still photographs.
VHS tapes can easily be damaged and as we’ve discussed in an early post, they have a limited shelf life. If you are sitting on any old VHS or Camcorder tapes perhaps now is the time to consider getting the images transferred to DVD or Blu-ray?
Enquiries are free, so fill in our easy to use form for a no obligation quote.