Today I spent about four hours digitally restoring a photo for a distant relative who recently contacted me in regard to a common Main family ancestor. I’ve restored photos previously, but this one was a particular challenge requiring about 36 Photoshop layers of enhancements to get to the “final” stage. I probably could have obsessed over it longer, but decided that after four hours, it was probably good enough.
Joseph Main Family Farmhouse - Original Scan
Joseph Main Family Farmhouse - Digitally Restored
Joseph Main Family Farmhouse - Restored Sepia
Fanflower's Weblog 
You do great work… I’m curious as to who the photo was for. Was Joseph Dwight’s father?
Thank you. The Joseph pictured (standing) is the son of Jacob Wesley Main and his wife Amanda (Thackery). Jacob and Dwight’s father, Josephus, were brothers, so Joseph and Dwight were first cousins. This house was in Liberty township near Mount Ayr. Joseph died in Mount Ayr in 1941. Pictured also is Joseph’s mother Amanda, who owned the house before her son, although she remained there after her husband, Jacob, died in 1899. The two children pictured are two of Joseph’s eight children. The owner of the photo believes it was taken probably between 1900-1905. There’s a little more information on the photo on Flickr.
We are fortunate to have someone interested and willing enough, as well as talented and able to work on something like that. Thanks for all your hard work and endeavors.