Photo restoration examples
Below is a selection of photo restoration examples we have completed for clients running from simple adjustments to the reparation of tears, extreme fading and creasing.
Our thanks to all those who have agreed to let us use their photos for this site.
Ripped to shreds
Condition: Multiple tears, pieces missing
Size: 77mm X 114mm
Request: Remove tears and voids and clean
The client’s request was repair this as best possible, removing the holes, repairing the tears and also cleaning up the other issues it had.
Removing the tears was certainly less difficult than filling in the voids. The darker areas were extremely problematic because there was no detail to work from or with.
The simplest way of dealing with this was to crop the picture. That may have made it smaller, but it retained the important elements, while losing the areas of dark with zero detail.
Royal Army Ordinance Corps officer
Condition: Creases and tears
Size: 105mm X 173mm
Request: Repair creases and tears and colourise
The client’s request was to clean up the photo and to add colour.
Firstly, colourising is not an automatic part of the restoration process. Restoration means to return it to its original condition (or as near as), and if a photo wasn’t coloured originally colourising needs to be added to the requirements.
The important thing in this case was to get the colours used as close as possible. Not just the man’s face, but more importantly, the uniform, as it’s a specific uniform with specific colours for each item. The client didn’t know which branch of the military he was part of, so we did a bit of research to discover that he was probably with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Thankfully, the badge made it easy to verify.
It transpires, through their own research, the client had also discovered that the photographed man was a Lieutenant in the RAOC.
Heavily creased and very small
Condition: Multiple creases and tears as well as being slightly blurred
Request: To make the picture sharper and remove the creases.This picture is no bigger than a postage stamp, measuring 308 by 450 pixels at 300 dpi (that’s 26mm or just over 1″ by 38mm or 1.5″). Sadly, people’s only remaining photos of dearly departed friends or relatives aren’t always the perfect size. We would encourage potential customers to try and scan photos like these at a high DPI (600 or 1,200 if possible), or if photographing them with a phone or camera, to try and get the photograph to take up as much of the shot as possible. Unfortunately, in this case, that was not possible.We could have tried using software to enlarge the picture, but it would not have improved the level of detail and could have worsened what little detail there was.With the improvements we made to the only surviving photograph of the people in the picture, the result made for a very happy client.
Folded and blurred
Size: 89mm X 64mm.
Condition: Folded down one side, small areas worn and blurred
Request: Remove crease from the fold and rectify the blurriness
As one of only a few surviving photos from the period, the brief here was to try and restore to as close to original as possible.
Since this photo was taken while everyone was moving, the blurring isn’t as a result of being out of focus, so reducing the blurring is the best we could achieve. The overall quality though has been improved significantly as well as removing all traces of the fold down the left of the photo.
As a small photo (just 89mm X 64mm or 3.5″ X 2.5″), by scanning at 1,200 dpi, this photo can be enlarged to 14″ X 10″ (354mm X 252mm) without loss of quality.
Restoration with colouring
Size: 130mm X 173mm.
Condition: Damage to the face and the background with some voids
Request: Repair damage and colourise
Thanks to this being quite large, the restoration was fairly straightforward. This is because there was plenty of detail to work with.
The colouring takes almost as long as the repairs, but is worth it.
Tears, voids and extreme fading
Size: 84mm X 130mm.
Condition: Extreme fading, tears, voids and deterioration
Request: Repair as best as is possible
This is pre First World War in date, sepia and has been around the block a few times to say the least.
Scanned in at 1,200 dpi, gave plenty to work with when replacing the missing boot and helped to enhance the almost feature-less faces of the two boys.
The end result isn’t by any means perfect, but according to the client, night and day compared to what they gave us to work with.
Colour correction and sharpness
Size: 86mm X 129mm.
Condition: Dull image and slightly out of focus.
Request: Clean up, sharpen, enhance the colours and clarity
This is not as old as most of the photographs that we get asked to repair, but nevertheless, the changes are significant.
Firstly, and I think this is necessary for all photos, the image was cleaned of scuffs and other imperfections. Then the colour levels, the contrast and a few other bits were adjusted and suddenly elements of the clothing pop out which in the original, couldn’t be seen.
Now, the image is bright and clear as it should be.
General restoration
Size: 170mm X 123mm.
Condition: Age worn with some obvious damage to repair.
Request: Clean up, sharpen, repair damage
We believe this one to have been taken around the 1940’s. Some simple reconstruction in certain areas, sharpening and level adjustment was all this needed to bring it back to almost new…
