Scrapbook Photo TAPE-B-Gone Restoration

Here's hoping a "Picture is worth more than a thousand words"....

When Microsoft upgraded to Windows Live Photo Gallery, so did I.  I switched from the software that came with my camera to downloading photos directly to Windows Live Photo Gallery.  I do much of the cropping, enhancing and improving photo quality there.  The 'RETOUCH' feature is a Mini Photo Shop where imperfections, marks and blemishes can be blurred or even removed.  When I need to do more than what I can do in the Photo Gallery, I OPEN the photo in PAINT...a right click option.

I have used Windows Paint since I first started on the computer.  With every upgrade, Microsoft has improved Paint to where it is for me today in Windows 7.   I have tried several Photo Shop programs and found them to be time consuming to learn and complicated.  It is not my intention to change my photos drastically, and if I want a 'Fad/PhotoFunia' type change, there are lots of 'Fun Photo' websites that fill that need.

Here is a SIMPLE technique to Cover/Hide larger areas that the 'RETOUCH' feature will not accommodate.  Start by....resizing the photo in the 'Gallery' to a size that fits your monitor...small or smaller works well.  OPEN the resized photo by right clicking and selecting from the drop down menu...Open with Paint.  Then you are ready to proceed to step one...all copy and paste menus are a right click on the mouse.

Once you have tried this 'Simple Restoration' technique, you will be able to tackle a little more detailed restoration that will require you to 'Toggle' back and forth between Paint and The Gallery.

Replacing larger sections of tape by 'Copy-Paste-Drag and Drop' in Paint and then SAVING it back to the photo in The Gallery allows you to go back to the 'RETOUCH' feature to blur the edges and improve the background and even lost features like the ear on the PRIN. Takes some practice, but worth it...don't you think?

The text/date and the frames were also done in Paint. 

To get the copyright symbol © in your signature or text here is the keyboard shortcut....

Hold Down the Alt key and type the number 0169. 

Now you are ready to RESTORE!

Here is how the Supt. and the Prin. looked on the finished scrapbook page.

You would think I'd be done with this page, but NOOOOO, my 'OverDoSue' kicked in when I realized I had names and dates to research.  I needed to know what happened to the Supt. and the Prin. after my mother graduated in 1943.  So on to Ancestry I went and found the PRIN. that's how I got the dates to put under his photo.  Haven't found the Supt....yet...but at least I've found the trick for removing the 71 year old Scotch Tape from the side of his head.

Rest In Restored Peace, Mr. Chisholm.