Using Photoshop and select AI (artificial intelligence) tools, I have created a new portrait of my 4th great-grandfather, Jackson Chaney (1817-1894) based on a photograph taken circa 1888. This new portrait is not just another colorization of a black and white photograph but a reconstruction featuring a rotation to a face-forward view of Jackson who is also now donning modern attire.

It is said the eyes are the window to the soul which likely explains my preference for portraiture where subjects are facing the camera. There is something about looking directly into someone’s eyes to help understand their character. Unfortunately, in the case of my 4th great-grandfather, no front-facing photographs are known to exist. But, now with Photoshop and select AI tools, it is possible to change the facial angle in a photograph.

Unlike my life mask reconstructions, where the purpose is to reduce or eliminate “artistic license,” this type of reconstruction has to employ quite a bit of artistic license. However, I did my best to keep the final image as close to his true likeness as possible.

For example, the original photograph of Jackson shown below is lacking in detail and gives me little to go on with respect to his hair. Sadly as much as I hated to do it, I had to take a little artistic license and interpolate his hairline on top. To arrive at where I did I didn’t just guess at it blindly. However, I based his hairline on his grandson’s and his 2nd-great-grandson’s (my grandfather) hairlines, both of whom favored Jackson. While we will never know for sure I chose blue for his eye color because blue eyes are prevalent in the Chaney family based on a family historian’s information. So even when artistic license was required it was done based on known family traits.

The final image shows Jackson now facing the camera in a modern suit. The AI didn’t render his face as well as I would have liked. Therefore, I had to make quite a few facial adjustments in Photoshop to match the original facial structure.

More info: yarbs.net

Original 19th century portrait of Jackson Chaney before colorization and facial angle change

New colorized portrait of Jackson Chaney showing facial angle change

Process images from original to final

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