A Family Photo-of-a-Photo, circa 1918-19 (Original Lost)

It's quite common that a photo is taken, shared with others digitally and then the original is lost. I can only imagine that the story behind this photo was officiating a dress-up party, since I haven't seen many portraits with men in bonnets.

The main task with this photo was to get it into the proper perspective, balance the tones, and not lose details (the top hat's freckles!) in the process.

I used gradients, dodge/burn and lightening layers to come up with a base before repairing damage. For the background, I typically try to blend the original background smoothly, by using a percentage of the healing brush, instead of painting one in. It keeps it more natural-looking.

I finished with smoothing, soft blending and 20% enhancement for the eyes and lips. And freckles.