For all of those who have medium/ advanced Photoshop skills, I strongly recommend that you take a look at this very cool volunteer opportunity: Operation Photo Rescue. I signed up and have rescued 2 images so far. Each image will take about a week of solid work, depending on the severity of the damage. The cause is to rescue images damaged in natural disasters, namely Hurricane Katrina. Volunteers are helping from around the world- it is a great feeling to be a part of something that directly helps people in a way that money alone cannot solve.
This is the before shot- water damage, color shift and a lot of scratches on the scan I received.
And here is the retouched version that I delivered back to OPR. I followed the instructions for color correction and restoration. I hope the family like the results!
Here is the blurb from the OPR website: “Insurance can replace homes, furniture and automobiles in time of need. However, photographs, which are important pieces of a family’s history, are unprotected. Operation Photo Rescue (OPR) is a volunteer network of professional photojournalists and amateur digital photographers, graphic designers, image restoration artists and others. OPR’s mission is to repair photographs damaged by unforeseen circumstances such as house fires and natural disasters at no cost to the people who own them.”