Before & After: McLean

[civilwarincolor]

The good Captain was himself likely unimportant in the long run - what makes his image compelling is that he was a member of the 39th New York - the notorious Garibaldi Guard (note the GG on his hat) - and the luscious and wonderfully silly-looking Pettingill revolver he's aiming!

I agree. I love the images that have something interesting in them and do not just look like cookie cutter (no offense to James N's image). I was not familiar with the Pettingill revolver, but it does look like it. According to this page it could possibly be a Savage 1861 Navy.

 

[James N.]

I agree. I love the images that have something interesting in them and do not just look like cookie cutter (no offense to James N's image). I was not familiar with the Pettingill revolver, but it does look like it. According to this page it could possibly be a Savage 1861 Navy.

Now that you mention it, I believe it IS a Savage - the Pettingill looks similar; here's a couple I copied from a quick search:

Expired Image Removed

 

[civilwarincolor]

Well. take your time. You can be sure we will still be here when you will have finished it. I imagine it to be as challenging as a 20,000 parts puzzle! The tent alone - or better, what is in it...
So, you will not be bored once you will be retired!

20,000? More like 100,000+! Have a look at this enlargement. This is only at 66% of full size. BTW, I just checked and i downloaded this file Jan. 7th, 2010, so you can see how long I have been thinking about it...

 

[civilwarincolor]

Now that you mention it, I believe it IS a Savage - the Pettingill looks similar; here's a couple I copied from a quick search:

Expired Image Removed

Thanks for the images. I am certainly no munitions expert and could not have been able to offer an opinion on either.

 

[FarawayFriend]

20,000? More like 100,000+! Have a look at this enlargement. This is only at 66% of full size. BTW, I just checked and i downloaded this file Jan. 7th, 2010, so you can see how long I have been thinking about it...

Okay, okay, okay... I never tried 100.000 parts. 10.000 was the largest. And that was before CWT.... So I do understand!

 

[civilwarincolor]

Okay, okay, okay... I never tried 100.000 parts. 10.000 was the largest. And that was before CWT.... So I do understand!

Well I could look at it like ten 10K puzzles.

 

[7th Texas Mounted Rifles]

The good Captain was himself likely unimportant in the long run - what makes his image compelling is that he was a member of the 39th New York - the notorious Garibaldi Guard (note the GG on his hat) - and the luscious and wonderfully silly-looking Pettingill revolver he's aiming!

I agree. I love the images that have something interesting in them and do not just look like cookie cutter (no offense to James N's image). I was not familiar with the Pettingill revolver, but it does look like it. According to this page it could possibly be a Savage 1861 Navy.

Now that you mention it, I believe it IS a Savage - the Pettingill looks similar; here's a couple I copied from a quick search:

Expired Image Removed

I want to play!

Thanks for posting this image of Schwartz, @civilwarincolor - i had actually never seen it before!

Definitely a Savage 1861 Navy.

When i first saw it (on my iPhone screen) my heart started fluttering - i assumed i was seeing a typical Ethan Allen or Lucius Pond, but was really hoping to find another ACW image featuring a Colt/Root... I love them for their awkwardness - they kind of bridge that aesthetic gap between the Paterson's profile and what we now think of as the traditional Colt silhouette.

But it wasn't in the cards! I logged in on the big screen and could see the comb had the wrong profile, that obnoxiously beautiful Savage triggerguard, and the full length loading lever.

Regardless, gotta love them 'sidehammer' revolvers.

Thanks for allowing me to partake in ya'lls back & forth talk!

 

[MRB1863]

Great job, Mike!

 

[rdengmurr]

Great job, @Mike Serpa.

I may be alone in thinking this, but there is something about Mclean's eyes... They are almost unnerving.

Wow, you are correct Sir they seem to be transparent.....spooky...

 

[rdengmurr]

20,000? More like 100,000+! Have a look at this enlargement. This is only at 66% of full size. BTW, I just checked and i downloaded this file Jan. 7th, 2010, so you can see how long I have been thinking about it...

Wow, that would be a lot of work, but I it would be nice to have as many photos restored so we can view the wonderful details. Hey, he looks like he's sporting a nice Earring.... make sure you take that out, we don't want him looking like a Scallywag Pirate...ARRRRRGGGGG

 

[James N.]

I want to play!

Thanks for posting this image of Schwartz, @civilwarincolor - i had actually never seen it before!

Definitely a Savage 1861 Navy.

When i first saw it (on my iPhone screen) my heart started fluttering - i assumed i was seeing a typical Ethan Allen or Lucius Pond, but was really hoping to find another ACW image featuring a Colt/Root... I love them for their awkwardness - they kind of bridge that aesthetic gap between the Paterson's profile and what we now think of as the traditional Colt silhouette.

But it wasn't in the cards! I logged in on the big screen and could see the comb had the wrong profile, that obnoxiously beautiful Savage triggerguard, and the full length loading lever.

Regardless, gotta love them 'sidehammer' revolvers.

Thanks for allowing me to partake in ya'lls back & forth talk!

This is getting OT, but these pistols remind me of my favorite of the 30+ prints produced in the 1880's and 90's by the Chicago firm of Kurz & Allison, The Battle of Opequon or Third Winchester, Virginia. The detail from it below shows the bold Confederate Major of Artillery with his apparently sidehammer revolver confronting the charging Yankee cavalry:

 

[18thVirginia]

Great photo, Mike. I'm always so impressed with your restorations.

Wish I had your patience.

 

[suzenatale]

Brigadier General Nathaniel C. McLean - National Archives photo #528579

View attachment 51049
View attachment 51050
He's been waiting for more than two years for me to finish restoring him!

You should put your name over the parts you fixed. Someone could just put both images over one another in photoshop and erase your name.

 

[suzenatale]

I agree with you, from what I can see here doing a physical restoration may completely destroy the image. From a digital restoration standpoint I think it could be accomplished easier than you might think, but would require a higher resolution version of the image and a little bit of time.

The real challenge I see with the image is that most of the uniform (particularly on his right) is very dark and does not have a lot of detail visible, so a restoration might only look "OK", but not great.

I was thinking the hard part would be the crack over his eyes.

 

[Patrick H]

Mike, you did a truly excellent job. But...go back and look at that scratched original. You've gotta admit he looked pretty good with the "knife in his teeth"!

 

[civilwarincolor]

I was thinking the hard part would be the crack over his eyes.

Well, at the resolution provided almost all of it would be a challenge. At higher resolution there are some tools that would make the work on eyebrows go pretty quick. I usually use a combination of 5-6 different tools to fix problems depending on the image. This one would probably take most if not all of them.

 

[Mike Serpa]

Personally I think all images are worth restoring. I think the thing with this image is not so much that he is a "nobody" but that the image itself is not very compelling. There is an image of Captain Schwartz, who probably would also have been forgotten, except that his photograph is very engaging.

It too suffers from severe damage and particularly when you look at the full size TIF file on the LOC here that you see that the extent of the repairs needed.

I have had this one on my radar for 5-6 years. Would love to take it on sometime, but just don't know if I have the time.

I wouldn't attempt this one. Maybe if I had Photoshop. I think it has more tools than iPhoto.

 

[Mike Serpa]

Great photo, Mike. I'm always so impressed with your restorations.

Wish I had your patience.

I have patience with some things. Other things make me want to pull my air out.

You should put your name over the parts you fixed. Someone could just put both images over one another in photoshop and erase your name.

I should do better at that. Maybe make my name bigger and more transparent.

 

[Mike Serpa]

Thank you everyone for the nice compliments and the likes!

 

[civilwarincolor]

I wouldn't attempt this one. Maybe if I had Photoshop. I think it has more tools than iPhoto.

You can get Photoshop CS2 for PC/Mac for free if you have or register for an Adobe account from here. The version is out of date, but the tools for restoration have not really changed much in the newer versions, so this one would work great. You can also get GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) here for free. It has the same type of tools as Photoshop, but is an open source program.

Of course there is the issue of learning a new tool. A good book to learn restoration in Photoshop is "Restoring and Tinting vintage Images" which can be found here. I know the author, great guy, lots of great examples. Use the code "JQZRUQ35" and get 25% off on the book, but don't tell him I told you that....