Hi everyone ~

Does anyone know anything about getting an old photograph restored?

One of the few remaining photos I have of me in childhood got accidently damaged yesterday. Maxi didn't see it where I'd laid it carefully on the dining room table when he put his papers on top. Later, when he scooped up all his papers to crunch them to fit into the trash can, he scooped up the photo also. CRUNCH!

It was taken in 1961 with one of those original Polaroid Land Cameras, the kind that were flat until you pressed a button and extended the front in order to take the picture.

Of course, it is a black and white, about 3.5" wide x nearly 6" tall. And now it has white lines all over it from having been scrunched up.

It is of me, on my first day of school. I am waving good-bye and holding the quilt my aunt in TN made for me for nap time. So I'd like to have it restored and preserved in some way if that's possible.

Merme

No ideas on restoring it. If it cannot be fixed, the best way to preserve it is to frame it.

Uhhh...I can fix that.
I might have failed to mention I have a photo-restoration business...

I can take people out of photos...


..and repair damaged photos...

Before


After


Cindy

It'll be on it's way to you tomorrow, Afgrey!

Merme

If you don't feel comfortable sending the original photograph through the mail, have someone scan it at 300 resolution and email it to me.

I don't trust the mail.....

Wow Cindy that is an amazing job. You are soooo talented.

Ain't she though, Catlover, ain't she?!

Afgrey always impresses me with either stuff she knows or what she can do.

Merme

WOW Cindy. Had no idea you did that.

If anyone here has a photo they want restored, just let me know.

This is NOT an advertisement!

No money involved.
Just friendship.

FYI...
The photo of the man and woman...the super-old photo.
It was the only photograph my mom's best friend had of her mother and father...and it was only about 3" tall...a very small photo.

My mom had me fix it for her and gave it to her for her birthday a few years ago...she cried like a baby when she opened the present. It was a framed 11" x 14" fully restored.

Nice Job Cindy!

I restore photos too. Here is my favorite job. The origional photo was 1 1/2" BY 1 1/2", scanned in at 600 dpi and enlarged. It's me and my cousin when I was 8 and she was 9



This is after! and this was my first attempt! LOL

Darn. I can't seem to figure out Photobucke!! Why are they comming out so big? I reduced the file size!!

That's a great job!

I always re-size my pictures and reduce file size before loading them into Photobucket. I use
Transform, then Resample, then reduce my resolution down to 100 and make sure my picture size isn't over 420 wide.

Do you do that just for yourself, or make any money at it?

I live in a medium size town...and I hardly ever advertise. Once I do a photo for someone, they show it to others, then I have more and more calls. I just give business cards out when the person picks the finished photo up.

Cindy

Those look great! My dad has some software on his puter, that he is using to fix up some old photos. His is looking pretty good so far too. I wish I knew how to do that myself.

Meg

Wow...great work

I've got some family photos from the late 1800's and the early 1900's that could use some re-touching. Gotta get the cable for my scanner though,cause I would NEVER mail them

G-Mom

Yeah, Michelle, I re~size my pictures in InfraView
before I load them to Photobucket...

Afrey, you might be interested in this:

We have a photo of my great-grandmother (maternal side) taken in the late 1800's. I'm guessing as to date because my g-mom was born in 1894, and it was a bit before then.

The photo is very large, a portrait, really. And it is in IMMACULATE conditon, too. At the time the photo was done, it was put in a substantial oval frame and the most beautiful thing is that the glass in the frame curves outward as does the photo inside, completely filling the glass edge to edge, top to bottom.

I owned it for many years after my G-mom passed away. Then when I started moving around too frequently, I gave it to my OH sister for safekeeping and she has it hung in her family photo gallery.

But golly, is it a visual treat for anyone interested in photography.

Merme

I will have to resize them more than I am now. As for the photos, that was personal project. I would love to make a living doing work like that, but right now its just for family and friends.

Question Cindy. Could you take a bunch of regular pics, say of kids just hanging out and meld them all together to look like they are an "on purpose" family photo? And if so, would all of the pics need to be on similar backgrounds?

Triss
I am not Cindy, but here it goes:

Yes, you can take a bunch of regluar pics and meld them togeather. It helps if they are of a simular background but its not necessary.

Hope that helps,

Now, dinner time for me.

Very cool!

I use Photoshop 7 for all my picture adjusting and restoring although I'm not quite as good as Cindy.

FREAKY!
I'm listening to Brain Salad Surgery right now!