Author Topic: Photograph Restoration, Dating *and Locating*: A use of Google Earth  (Read 4394 times)

Offline jjoojj

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Photograph Restoration, Dating *and Locating*: A use of Google Earth
« on: Tuesday 14 December 10 17:04 GMT (UK) »
Hello!

I spend some of my summer days in Italy, cycling the hills of Le Marche, sometimes to and from the cemeteries (my family think I'm morbid) looking for (dead) members of my wife's family.

Lately, some generous family members have given me old photographs of my wife's family. Some are very beautiful, capturing - perhaps - an important time in someone's life; a meeting of friends; a bountiful harvest. I scan the photos, and try to learn something about them. I have no expertise at all, I should add, in anything photographic.

I've found a trick, ahem, a technique that works for me when I need to locate a photograph in which some landscape appears. It uses Google Earth in 3D mode, so that you can move around the landscape and see those virtual hills rise up in front of you.

The photo below is of my wife's grandfather, and two of his chums - on our left is his father-in-law's brother-in-law, in the middle his father-in-law.

The other image is a screenshot from Google Earth 3D view, in which the profile of the hills is similar - or the same - as that in the photograph. This goes some way to convince me that I know where the photograph was taken: those hills are very close to where we spend our summers.

This works best with photographs with a skyline in them where you might know approximately where it was taken. I've also found that google street view can be used to do the same sort of thing when the backdrop is buildings.

Knowing the location of a photo gives other hints, and tells more of the story! The tantalising fact that my wife's grandfather is looking up might be explained. There's a window close to where the photo was taken: it may be that his wife was calling to him ... "smesso di chiaccere, vieni dentro".*

Best wishes, Jon

* Stop gossiping and come inside. At least in my poor Italian.



Hall, Hunter, Stogdale, Stanbridge, Austin, Reay, Carr, Thom, Scott: Durham
Rapanotti, Lucci, Rossini, Pagnani: : Sassoferrato & Genga & Arcevia, Le Marche; Bernabé, Sbravati: Cremona, Italy

Online kath davis

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Re: Photograph Restoration, Dating *and Locating*: A use of Google Earth
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 14 December 10 17:13 GMT (UK) »
Jon,  I am not sure if you are suffering from my complaint - willing-it-to-be! this does take a little imagining, but presumably you had other clues!  I use Street View to find the houses my forbears lived in and log them with the census results - I also use maps a lot, it is amazing how many places you have never heard of, even if you think you know the area.
Kath
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Offline jjoojj

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Re: Photograph Restoration, Dating *and Locating*: A use of Google Earth
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 14 December 10 17:18 GMT (UK) »
Dear Kath,

Yes, willing-it-to-be is something that I could be accused of, in this and many other things, especially when it comes to speaking Italian:-)

Google Street View is particularly wonderful, given you can see a great deal of a building's detail, even down to the patterns on individual bricks, sometimes enough to clinch it.

Best wishes, Jon
Hall, Hunter, Stogdale, Stanbridge, Austin, Reay, Carr, Thom, Scott: Durham
Rapanotti, Lucci, Rossini, Pagnani: : Sassoferrato & Genga & Arcevia, Le Marche; Bernabé, Sbravati: Cremona, Italy