Friday, September 16, 2016

Skyway & Monorail Rescans

Welcome, junior gorillas, to another installment of "GDB Rescans"! 

Let's start by taking a gander at a photo from 1960; this is how my original scan looked back in 2011. Not even that long ago! It's not super terrible, but it looks like it was taken through smoked glass - gray and murky.


Time for the rescan; here's how it looked before I did any color-correction or dust removal. That piece of fuzz is fun.


And after two months and millions of your tax dollars, here is the new improved image! I am very happy with this one. That blue sky really came back, and the snow on the Matterhorn looks like snow.  I see three bobsleds, included at no extra cost to you.


Next is another "smoggy" image, circa 1962 (orignally posted in 2008). Everything appear to be coated in soot, including the sky.


And here's the rescan, sans color-correction and dust removal. I always thought that looking at the world through rose-tinted lenses was supposed to be a good thing, but - no, it's not.


I consulted NASA and the Lawrence Livermore laboratories to get this final result. Not bad, if I do say so myself! There is some weirdness in the sky that I probably could have fixed, but enough is enough, if you know what I mean. I like the fact that this is an uncommon angle on the Monorail, with the castle in the background.


I hope you have enjoyed today's rescans!

15 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

These are some wonderful "do-overs"-! (Is the 'Hollywood community' aware of your magical, restorative powers-??)

That second image is most-definitely unusual in the angle chosen. Hurray for the oddball.

Thanks, Major.

Unknown said...

Nice work. I always like a good view of the Mk. II monorails after they've had the window in the door fitted.

TokyoMagic! said...

That mother really shouldn't allow her daughter to stand on the seat of the Monorail....especially so close to the window. I thought people were smarter than that back in 1962.

These are super nice re-scans, Major. Thanks for all the work you do to keep us readers happy!

K. Martinez said...

TokyoMagic!, People have done stupid things since the dawn of mankind. And every so often there's a Darwin Award winner. Remember "MouseTales"?

Nice job, Major. Love the Monorail Red rescan. Thanks!

Tom said...

Wow and wow! I just cannot get over the magic way you are able to cajole such a perfect blue sky out of all that pink! My mind is utterly blown. Very nice job!

Steve DeGaetano said...

I agree with Tom. I'm not even sure how such good color correction is even possible!

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I am well known to Hollywood, but I don’t want to deal with the paparazzi!

Patrick Devlin, the window in the door??

TokyoMagic!, there’s plenty of stupidity to go around, but maybe the angle makes it looks worse than it really was?

K. Martinez, I’ve never read the “Mouse Tales” books, are they worth the time/money?

Tom, the key is that, as faded as these were, there was still a tiny bit of the original color information beneath all that pink. There are some slides (bad PanaVues, for instance) that are beyond any restoration.

Steve DeGaetano, thanks!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful work Major. Much appreciated.

That second picture is so wonderful, but then, so is the first. I love all the views of the Castle roof, especially knowing what I know now about roofs.

JG

Melissa said...

The stripey canopies really pop out in the rescans. Love the one with the shadow of the Skyway bucket on it.

Chuck said...

Major, what Patrick is talking about is the window installed in the crew/nose compartment door of the Mk. IIs sometime between 1961 and 1962. You can see the original configuration in this Daveland photo from August, 1961.

I'll echo everyone else's sentiments about the fantastic restoration job you did on these slides. Well done.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that the green/white bobsled moving down to Hold 1 is empty. Unusual that they'd send an empty during regular Ops.

Chuck said...

Anonymous, it may not have left the station empty. Wasn't this around the time of the first unverified Harold sightings?

Anonymous said...

I just realized that photo 2 has a great view of the little picnic area that sat about where the Mad Tea Party is now. For some reason, this area has been a "blind spot" in all the vintage photos. Everyone seems to have their back to it focused on the exciting things all around, or over it on the Skyway and not looking down.

There isn't anything special about it, I guess, but it's just something I've noticed. It seems to have a little kiosk at the right edge, dressed up like the Carousel. Souvenirs? The ticket booth was over by Dumbo IIRC.

Another reason to love that photo.

JG

TokyoMagic! said...

Ken, that is very true! I do remember the MouseTales books! Major, I've read both of the "Disneyland" MouseTales books, the the one about the studio and movies ("Mouse Under Glass") and the one on Walt Disney World. They were all very enjoyable reads.

Mark H. Besotted said...

Like all the other Junior Gorillas (though I campaigned for the name "Major-ettes") I adore Rescan Theater. Thanks again for your great work.