Seaman Richard Carroll - Photoshop Reconstruction

Back on October 5, 2008 I tried to reconstruct a very poor photo of a WWII sailor who died on the USS Grunion (a submarine sunk by the Japanese).  I worked on it for a couple of weeks but I never could really capture the essence of the seaman.  (See that early effort here. Yuk!)

Okay, two years have passed and I have learned a few Photoshop tricks since then.  So I decided to try once again to do Seaman Richard Carroll justice.  I think I did so in this second effort, and it only took me one day to complete.  [Update:  I spent a second, third and fourth day colorizing it and making small edits.] Here it is:

Photoshop Reconstruction: Another Grunion Sailor

Mary Bentz of the USS Grunion Family Search Team contacted me, asking me to do another Photoshop reconstruction of a WWII submarine sailor who died at the hands of the Japanese.  In many cases there is no clear photo of the fallen sailor, and sometimes there is only a blurry or grainy newspaper photo.

Here's my reconstruction, both before and after.  Is my reconstruction super fabulous?  Well no, but it's not too bad.  With Photoshop you have to know when to stop, as you can get obsessed with a single photo.

Update:  Since I wrote the above, I have continued to make revisions.  Suggestions from readers on how to improve the reconstruction are welcome.  I have learned that the sailor is Seaman Second Class Arnold Charles Post of the submarine USS Grunion.