That White Dress Should Be Green. Not Just Any Green…

When restoring color in faded, old photos, some of those colors are especially meaningful to the client. For Jeanne's mom, it was important to restore the dress she is wearing in this photo to a specific pastel green.

Take a look: Do you see even the slightest hint of the original color here?

Other issues: Her father's suit was "definitely white," according to Jeanne's mom. She was there—she would know. Also, it is grainy, blurry, and any blues or greens have been completely lost over time.

I fixed the overall color cast. I got rid of the orange overlay, carefully rebalancing the color for more true-to-life skin tones and background details. I applied my secret blur-reduction tech to sharpen the faces a little. I desaturated the jacket to so it was white. Then, I got to work on the dress. 

First, I went to the Pantone web site and searched for Pastel Green and, by gum, I found it. Good ole' Pantone color 13-0116 TCX. I selected the color swatch, copied it into Photoshop, then carefully painted it over the dress and made the color translucent. The result? A beautiful Pastel Green dress!

Then I gave the image to Jeanne and nervously asked her: Did I get the dress color right? She showed it to her mom. "Wonderful--it's exactly as I remember it!" she said.