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Photo Restoration Services in UK

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Raindogs

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I need to get 2 old (1971) B&W photos cleaned and repaired. I know there are several companies offering scanning and digital retouching but I can't seem to find anyone offering restoration of the original photos.

Does anyone know of any companies in the UK that can clean and repair the originals as well as scanning and digital retouching ?

Can scanning damage the original photos ?
 
As far as I know scanning will not damage your old photos, I have scanned many images , and never noticed any damage at all.
If you put " photo restoration " into Google you will get loads of hit's
E.G.
http://www.imagerestore.co.uk/

Or if you have a scanner, then post your photos on here and see what the Boys/girls on this forum can do for you, there are some real masters hide on this forum. to name but a few, buy the way the larger the image the better, if you haven't a scanner , ask the local school to help you.
Regards
Michael
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http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x223/eirianfa2002/?albumview=slideshow&mediafilter=images

http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x223/eirianfa2002/Komandoo%202008/?albumview=grid
 
I used to do restoration and retouching of images. The place I contracted to had a drum scanner which minimised the damage to the photograph.

If the media is in a poor condition and/or damaged then a flatbed scanner might be the best option but this makes it harder to repair the images.

The reason for the drum scanner is that you need the resolution to pick up the finer detail that might be lost. A drum scanner is expensive, very expensive. So there will be only a few places that will offer this level of restoration. The company I worked for no longer exists.

The other advantage of drum scanning the image is that it will give you a print that can be undistinguishable from the original because it captures a finer amount of detail. The new image will also probably last a lot longer, especially if you specifiy archival media prints.
 
I think any "repair" companies would just use a copy of the original rather than play around with an original. Photos are far more fragile than a paintings and wont tolerate any man handling. I used to work for a photographer many years ago and they would carry out a few minor touch ups i.e. slight dust removal. For any major repair work (tears, corners missing on the original) always involved making a 5X4 copy neg (I did say it was a long time ago! ) than a copy print was used to carry out the restoration work with the original was used only as a reference.

Raindogs (great name by the way) you mention cleaned are you talking about stains ~ coffee, biro, ink that sort of thing, OR is it just an accumulation of old age?

All the old photos I've scanned are still in the state they were in before the scan took place.

Directory of photo restoration companies from Google

http://www.freeindex.co.uk/categories/entertainment_and_lifestyle/photography/photo_restoration/

http://www.memories-rebuilt.co.uk/

http://www.yourphotorepairs.co.uk/photo-restoration.html

Hope that helps you out.

Dave
Raindogs said:
I need to get 2 old (1971) B&W photos cleaned and repaired. I know there are several companies offering scanning and digital retouching but I can't seem to find anyone offering restoration of the original photos.

Does anyone know of any companies in the UK that can clean and repair the originals as well as scanning and digital retouching ?

Can scanning damage the original photos ?
Click to expand...
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dave

 
The photos themselves are in reasonable condition but one of them has small amounts of mould (or some residue) on the surface. As I am paying £24 to get them drum scanned I was wondering if I would need to get the surface cleaned beforehand.

I was unable to find any reviews of the very large amount of online photo restoration services available. I was looking at these people
http://www.photovalet.co.uk/index.html
 
Sorry to have taken so long to reply but had to see to the guests....

We used to use very small amounts of wetting agent to clean grubby marks off photos BUT BE WARNED this can also remove the emulsion surface off the photograph. Another problem using this method is the cleaned surface can show drying marks especially if the original has a gloss finish, if the photo has a matt finish then you can get away with it. Would a very soft cloth very, very gently rubbed against JUST the mould remove some of the offending material ??

With the excellent quality of digital restoration it might be prudent just to leave the mould on the photo.

I did see the programme mentioned on the Photovalet website it was really emotinal but enjoyable. The photos always play a crucial part in this series. As already mentioned elsewhere on this thread you could have the photos scanned then offer up the images to this forum and let some of the expert retouchers ply their craft. It could make a very good Retouch Challenge.

What ever you choose to do good luck Raindogs
Raindogs said:
The photos themselves are in reasonable condition but one of them has small amounts of mould (or some residue) on the surface. As I am paying £24 to get them drum scanned I was wondering if I would need to get the surface cleaned beforehand.

I was unable to find any reviews of the very large amount of online photo restoration services available. I was looking at these people
http://www.photovalet.co.uk/index.html
Click to expand...
--
dave

 
I would have no problem with offering it up to anyone on here.

The 2 photo's I need retouching are of President Richard Nixon meeting my Grandfather & Grandmother in the Oval Office in 1971. Once I get the scans I will post them on here.
 
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