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Thanks to MyHeritage’s Photo Tools, I Have Beautiful Color Images of the Grandfather I Barely Remember

MyHeritage user George F. Locke of North Carolina has almost no memories of his grandfather, who died when he was very young. Using the MyHeritage photo tools, he was able to produce some incredible images of his grandfather. This is his story:

My parents “infected” me with the genealogy bug at an early age. We always had a photo album of our ancestors on the table in the living room. Sometimes I would sit and gaze at the old photos and ask who the people were, and my parents would then tell me stories about our ancestors. Most photos were from my mom’s side. My dad had fewer photos and even fewer stories of his ancestors. In 1992, I began what I thought would be a “quick” genealogy project to provide my dad with some information about his family line. Now after 30 years, I am still working on his side of my family tree.

I have been using the MyHeritage photo enhancing tools ever since I first joined and uploaded my DNA data to their site, after reading Roberta Estes’ reviews of the company and their services. They have been very helpful in recovering old forgotten photos of my family history and making new discoveries and insights through the process of clarifying and colorizing my parents’ and grandparents’ old black and white photos — but recently, I put the service to a whole new use.

Last fall, my sister and I submitted multiple pieces of analog recordings — video tape, movie film, and audio tape — for professional digitization.  We received the first of the files on Valentine’s Day this year, and were blown away to discover that the home movie of our parents’ wedding was shot in color. We had no idea that the film was in color, as we had never actually seen the video. Our parents were married in 1954, and one of my mom’s uncles recorded the arrival and departure from the church on his movie camera and invested in the expense of using color film. 

My mother, who is now in her 90s, was blown away when I showed the video to her… but then, I took it up one more step. I had been rewatching the video all week, and it occurred to me that I could grab screen captures of selected frames, crop them, and process them on MyHeritage, cleaning up the focus and restoring the color.

George’s parents on their wedding day, April 24, 1954

George’s parents on their wedding day, April 24, 1954

The ability to capture frames from a movie provides candid shots — real moments that really express their true feelings, unlike posed still images. When I shared them with my mother, she was almost in tears of joy at seeing her with her father outside of the church, not to mention the sailor she had fallen in love with 70+ years ago.

George’s mother and grandfather

George’s mother and grandfather

Seeing my grandfather in these images was very meaningful to me, too. I was almost 3 years old when my grandfather passed away so almost all of my memories of him are from black and white photos, and he wasn’t smiling in any of them. The fact that I was able to grab this frame, with him smiling, from a color film, and then use MyHeritage to increase the resolution and correct the color is just incredible. The combination of the two technologies is something I wished for years ago, but didn’t think or dream that it would be a reality to allow me to share with my mom. My late dad would have been bawling like a baby to see these photos.

I posted these photos on a private family Facebook page, and my cousins and all my nieces and nephews are going crazy that they are able to see these images and learn about “Grandma’s daddy.”

Many thanks to George for sharing his story! The MyHeritage photo tools can bring old images back to life like nothing you’ve ever seen. If you haven’t already, now’s the time to check them out!

The post Thanks to MyHeritage’s Photo Tools, I Have Beautiful Color Images of the Grandfather I Barely Remember appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.

Source: My Heritage

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