Ambrotype Photo Repair: Part 1

Mary and Aaron Kinslow were my Great-Great Grand parents on my Grand Mother's side. They had Ambrose Kinslow who had a daughter Ma (Not her name) Kinslow who married a Nunn who had a bunch of daughters. One daughter was Susie Nunn who married Gill Harbison. They had two kids, Kay and David Harbison. David was my dad. SOOOOOO yeah, I'm related to the old folks and I'm going to be fixing this picture. I'll post the progress here.

About the Photo

This Ambrotype was taken around 1840-60. Ambrotypes are a type of photograph that is taken on glass. The light-sensitive chemical compound is put on the glass, then exposed to the light through the camera lens. The actual picture is a positive image that is white. You wouldn't be able to tell much by holding the glass to light. In order to see the details you must put the glass over a dark background like black cloth or paper.
This particular picture was broken and therefore was in many pieces. Since the photo has to be lit from the front, scanning was not an option.
To get the photo digitized I piece the broken picture together over a piece of black cardboard. I put a florescent light directly above the glass at an angle and took a picture of the photo using my Canon 6D. To repair the photo I will be using Photoshop.