Photographic Restoration

Restoration of old photographs was once limited to the rephotographing of the original work, and then painstakingly hand-restoring the new print. There were clear limits to what could be achieved with a badly damaged original, and a very high price to be paid for the many hours of work required for even the simplest repair.

With the advent of digital imaging, the original is not rephotographed, but scanned as a high definition image into a computer. Professional software is then used by a skilled digital photographer to 'electronically restore' and adjust the image. The result is then printed on a high quality digital photographic printer.

It is impossible to list all the new restoration functions that can be provided by this means, but here is a taste, to give just some idea:

  • A severely faded image can often have full contrast restored
  • Backgrounds can be 'stretched' to fill in damaged areas.
  • Cracks and tears can be electronically 'papered over' to become totally invisible
  • Missing parts can be created from other elements in the image. For example, a missing ear, eye, or foot can be reconstructed from a mirror copy of the other one.
  • Surface 'speckling' can often be dramatically reduced without resorting to the removal of each speck individually.

As you can see, the new possibilities allow restoration of images that were once beyond repair. This is, of course, in addition to the traditional adjustments such as enhancing contrast, enlargement, reduction, and cropping, which can all be done electronically.

Whatever work is required to be carried out on your precious photographs, your original is always scanned, and the restoration, manipulation or enhancement carried out on the digital copy. Your original photograph is never changed in any way. The modified copy is finally printed using dye-sublimation technology on a Kodak® photographic printer.

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