Do No Harm...Photo Restoration Hints Part One

Understanding photo restoration is where we start.  Since we are scanning old pictures, make sure to wear clean cotton gloves so as not to add any oils or dirt to the picture.  It is important to assure the customer that you are going to take good care of their precious item and either scan it right there in front of them or make sure you have a supply of clear plastic envelopes that can be secured with a string wrap tie.

The thing I try to remember the most is:  do no harm.  OK, I am not a doctor but it is really easy to
overdo a picture restoration to the point that it looks toooooo good for the time period.  Remember to duplicate the color if there is sepia toning...unless the customer specifically asks you to return it to black and white.  Remember to use the black and white setting in PhotoShop.  Reducing the color saturation doesn't give you the benefit of working with the "colors" in the black and white...more on this later...sometimes a little bit of imperfection is perfect.

If you scan at 300 dpi, you will have enough data to work with in most situations. Sometimes the damage is so severe and the image is so out of focus that 150 might be a better dpi.  The secret is to look at the image magnified to just the beginning of being pixelated in PhotoShop to see what you have.  The moment of truth is finding that even if you do scan at high resolution and do your best fixing it, the picture is not going to look better blown up.  So, when you get a feel for that, take the time to talk to the customer in advance to let them see the magnified image, the amount of information (pixels) that you have to work with and suggest that they keep the picture in the same size or maybe (rarely) smaller.  The more experience you have fixing photos, the more confident you will be when you first get the image.  However, a good magnifying glass and a couple minutes of examination could make a big difference.

Next time, we will look at the EYES...which are very different from one another...unless you have one that is missing....

Photo Restoration...Why I started Restoring Photos for Fun and Some Profit

You've seen the before and after photos of photo restorations...and you wonder how it is done.

First, you just have to have an interest.  There are lots of helpful sites out there to teach you exactly what to do for every type of damage.  I personally got started because my wedding pictures were sitting in a book on the floor next to the kitchen.  When the dishwasher leaked, the water made its way to my wedding pictures.  Horrified, I called my insurance agent who did not have anyone to send me to. 

So I got busy...really busy...and started working on them myself.  I started with a wonderful program called Paint Shop Pro...it was about 99.00 and it taught me how to use the tools of the trade so to speak.  I did some that were too good and they were scary...then I learned how to use the "back" key and take an honest look from beginning to end on what I had done "to" the picture. I advanced to PhotoShop and taught myself using the many books that are available out there for do-it-yourself-ers.  Thousands of restorations later, I still am learning new ways to improve pictures and discovering the incredible depth of tools that are available in PhotoShop.

I know that some people want to know how to do this themselves and will go and get the free software that is available on the web and tutorials from YouTube.  If you want to learn how to do this for your own enjoyment and enlightenment, I recommend you do so.  It is indescribably rewarding to fix something that is really wrecked up!  You may get so hooked on it that you start begging friends and relatives to let you take down their faded photos on their walls to fix them for free like I did.  Once you figure out how to improve a photo that is turning red or just fading away, you will be hooked like I am.....It's ok, though because there are a lot of pictures out there that are going away and so little time.

If you want instant gratification and want to spend a little money to get it done now, there are many professionals out there.  If an affordable price is as important as quality, you will love working with me.  I have lots of satisfied customers and return business because I value the trust people have in me an I am passionate about my work.  

That desire to satisfy customers and preserve memories is what sets me apart from other photo restorers.  I don't need to get rich off your photo restoration...there are amazing rewards in doing the right thing for a reasonable cost.

Enough about me...what have you got that I can help you with?