[Bill Cotter]

Let's take a before and after look at Expo 58:





This fair was too early for me. Did anyone here get to go?

[Bill Cotter]

This one was titled "Inside a Tube".

[magikbilly]

Hi Bill,

Truly excllent work! The restored versions seem a touch cool in color, but this is very minor. I am in awe of your astounding results with these "purple" images.

Best always,
Eric

[waynebretl]

Hi Bill,

Are these commercial slides? The contrast and limited color range after correction is reminiscent of dupes like Viewmaster reels, although those were Kodachrome copies, I believe, and wouldn't have faded pink.

edit: meant to say limited color range and high contrast

[Bill Cotter]

These are both Pana Vue slides. 99% of those slides will have turned color like this. Very few of the Pana Vues hold their color. You can tell they changed stock over time as the color shift varies. Some from the 1950s have gone almost completely red and can't be brought back to anything that looks good. These were from a European release and were more purple than red, so that helped. I had bought many of these slides over the years and was really dismayed when I pulled them out and saw what they looked like. That was really the start of my "Quest for Color Correction".

MB, I might be able to tweak them, but I figured I was already sinking too much time into them, and they look ok on my monitor, so I decided to leave them as is and get some sleep. A lot of the time I'll go back and redo things as the tools get better or I learn more. One thing I always tell people is to never get rid of the originals, even if they are horrible, as things will only get better with the technology. I have some shots I took years ago that were really bad, not worth showing, but today can be made to look pretty passable. Feel free to tweak these though and post your results.

[worldsfairent]

Nice work, Bill. Unless I'm mistaken-- I think that "Tube" in the second shot is actually inside the Atomium.

[Joey Chernov]

Yes, if i recall not all connector tubes had escalators, some had stairways that people could use. There was a diagram of the travel pathways in the Atomium, I'll look to see if I can find it again....

[Bill Cotter]

That is indeed inside the Atomium. I believe Randy was there post-Expo. Has anyone else been inside?

[expoboy]

Those are excellent restorations. The interior shot may be on the cool side due to the light source used to illuminate the tubes of the Atomium. I've got dozens of commercially produced Expo 70 slides that have shifted color dramatically to magenta hues due to age, film instability and being stored in non-archival vinyl pages. I have tried restoring them with the software included with my Minolta scanner but have not had much luck.

[waynebretl]

I decided to play with the outside shot, starting with the faded one. Brought up the mid gray levels (decreased contrast), increased the saturation by a bunch, and sharpened to make up for the loss of contrast.
I was trying to get a brighter sky without washing out the pavement, but after seeing the result, I think the original was probably made with a polarizing filter to darken the sky, so I went too far on the lightening. Note however that the clothing colors are more distinguishable. Better or more realistic? Probably not. Just an example of what you can choose to do. However, I think some increase in saturation is not a bad idea.

More Fun!

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[Doug Seed]

Check out the "Escorter"! Kind of like the rickshaw things on the boardwalk in Atlantic City.

Any close ups of the chrome balls? They are amazing.

My ninety-something Aunt recently sent me a message on a postcard from her home in Maine. It was an old, unused postcard of the 1958 fair! I wonder if she pulled it out of an old scrapbook?

It says "Panorama from the Heysel" on the back. Never heard of it before looking just now.

Heysel Stadium disaster - 1985 (Wikipedia)

[Bill Cotter]

This one didn't have much color to play with, but I thought it was an interesting night view.

[worldsfairent]

Wow! I never knew it lit up at night like that! What a fantastic structure-- definitely my third favorite theme center behind the T&P and Eiffel Tower.

[magikbilly]

"...definitely my third favorite theme center behind the T&P..."

I am with you!
Those are people on the right in those "windows", yes?

Eric

[Joey Chernov]

Yes, I agree, this is a nice Theme, though my order is a bit different (1-T&P, 2-Unisphere, 3-Atomium/Eiffel Tower.

The lighting pattern the Atomium uses now, isn't that similar to the fair pattern but with newer and fewer bulbs?