First Swing at Restoring an Old Family Photo from 1978

My first swing at restoring some old photos. A summer family vacation picture as we drive through the petrified forest in New Mexico or Arizona on a hot and sunny day in 1978. I'm 6, Jennifer is 4, Mom is keeping me from pulling Jennifer's hair or teasing her, and Dad is behind the camera. Us kids are sporting some fancy sunglasses. 

That summer's top radio hits we would have been listening to on the long road trip from Missouri to California and back would have been "You Light Up My Life' by Debbie Boone and "Stayin Alive" by the Bee Gees. "Grease" was the hit movie that summer as well. But we didn't care...WE WERE GOING TO DISNEYLAND! 

 

Editing process: My editing programs are Affinity Photo (AP) and Luminar NEO (NEO) 

In AP I used the healing brush to remove the material and spots. In NEO I reduced the blue cast by changing the white balance and saturation. I created a mask for the sky and lightened it up more to make it as realistic as possible. I also used the dodge and burn on the petrified log behind me to lighten up the dark shadow to create some separation from my black shorts and the shadow. Did minimal erasing around the edges of the bodies (that's healing brush in AP but erase in NEO) and lightened the faces a little but the original picture is low quality so can't do much about it.