Edward S. Curtis, et. al., Photographs

Quick Selection List

Introduction Below are pictures of North American Indians taken by Edward Curtis and others, dating from 1899 to the 1920's

	"Chukchansi cradle-baskets" ca. 1924 Edward S. Curtis. Notes: This photograph was very faded. It's a high-contrast picture, which makes the details really stand out. The restored version brought out the texture of the blanket in the background.

"Her Know" c. 1899 Heyn Notes: Another photograph that was quite faded.

"Solid Comfort (Navajo Series)" c. 1914 William J. Carpenter Notes: This photograph was faded, but also had light and dark patches, which were fairly difficult to remove while keeping the tone of the rest of the photograph. I kept the bottom dark. It seemed like it might have been that way in the original photograph, so I left it. This picture is a great example of bringing back the artistry of a picture. Well, they all are, but this is hard to picture as such a nice object with all of the spotting in the original.

"Maricopa Child" c. 1907 Edward S. Curtis Notes: This is an example of a photograph that can be made to look even better, but I left it looking more-or-less like a decent black-and-white photograph. It's possible to make this picture look like it was taken yesterday, but I thought it would look too polished and only went so far. As it is, the original is very faded, and the restored version looks much nicer, and still retains an older feel about it.

"Sifting Basket-- Southern Miwok" c. 1924 Edward S. Curtis Notes: This is an example of an extremely faded photograph. I could only restore it to a certain point because I only had an 8-bit-per-channel scan to work with. This is an example of a photograph that could be restored to a much higher degree if I ever work with the negative or get at least a 14-bit-per-channel scan. The restored version may look dark, and my believe is that it was a very dark picture. There are spots, particularly the eye, where there is no definition, suggesting that area was almost black -- after that, the rest of the picture follows suit.

"Mosa -- Mojave" ca. 1903 Edward S. Curtis Notes: This is a beautiful photograph, taken in 1903. It was clearly brown by the fading, and there are other examples of Edward Curtis photographs that haven't faded nearly as much with the same basic tone of brown.

"A Child of the Desert (Navajo)" c. 1904 Edward S. Curtis

"An Oasis in the Badlands" c. 1905 Oglala man (Red Hawk) on horse drinking at oasis. Edward S. Curtis Notes: I almost didn't include this particular photograph, because I wanted to show the restorations with the largest difference. At first glance, this picture doesn't look too different from the original, and I think that is a good point. This one has damage to the picture in the corners and on the left side, but besides that, it's in basically ok shape. In a large sense, this is a good example of not really touching the basic appearance of the photograph, but only really fixing blemishes and tears that have occurred over the years. After applying some contrast to remove the little fading that has occured, and to bring back the cloud definition, the result is quite nice.

"On the Merced - Southern Miwok" c. 1924 Edward S. Curtis Notes: This is an example of an extensive process I developed to bring back the natural contrast range to a picture that has faded quite a bit. Rather than fading to a brightness, this picture faded in the low- and mid-ranges, making it very murky. After applying the techniques I developed, the picture came back to a very nice contrast, and a local gallery likes it enough to hang the new print.

"3 Eagles -- Nez Perce" c. 1924 Edward S. Curtis Notes: This is another example of an extensive process I developed to bring back the natural contrast range to a picture that has faded quite a bit. Sadly, I lost the originals, so these lossy jpegs are all that is left. But, the results are very nice.