Photo Restoration Training Manual. Examing the Condition of Prints

Contents

Inspect the image for any substances adhering to the front of the photograph (i.e., cellophane tape, pen marks, or finger prints). If a customer’s photograph arrives in your shop with cellophane tape on the front, it must be mentioned that our scanners will pick it up. Consequently, it will need to be digitally removed thus increasing the difficulty of the work. Any blemishes which can be removed from the print by conventional cleaning methods before the image is scanned will obviously not have to be removed by a digital specialist. If a photograph arrives in pieces be sure to repair it by applying only masking tape to the back of the photo. The amount of tape used should be minimized, simply serving to hold the pieces together until the reach our specialists’ hands.

Restoration and Enhancement

Examine the image carefully to determine what repairs need to be done. The level of damage as well as the number and location of damaged areas will determine the difficulty of the restoration work. Also, close examination of the image may reveal light scraping or micro spotting throughout the entire image that would raise the difficulty by one level.

In general, damage to an image which has affected people or animals will increase the level of difficulty of restoration. Simple backgrounds are more cooperative when it comes to restoration and they can always be eliminated by pulling a subject out of a background and placing them on one of our digitally created ones. The greater the number of damaged subjects in a given picture, the higher the difficulty level of restoring the image.

Consult the customer and determine exactly what they have in mind for their image. You must be able to tell them what level of work is needed to restore their image, and with the aide of the sample album, you should be able to communicate a good idea of what the finished product will, look like. We have found that by providing a price range initially, the dealer can qualify the customer without having to waste time sending an image in for a quotation and the customer rejecting the confirmed quote.