Digital Restoration

We reproduce your photo (loose or glued into a photo album) and digitally restore the resulting file or a supplied scan with great care.

Back to the Original State

The aim is to digitally recreate the original state and the appearance of the photo at the time it was taken.

Removal of scratches, stains, creases
Replacing missing parts, torn corners, etc.
Restoration of faded colors, back to original colors
Restoration of yellowed, silvered or faded black and white photos

Replacing missing parts

Photos were often improperly removed from albums or passed through many hands. Parts of the motif and corners are then sometimes missing, and the baryta layer sometimes shows creases.

Example: The original is badly damaged in the background area, parts of the woman’s left eye are missing. The missing parts were replaced and the photo restored to the black and white aesthetic of 1959.

Restoring colors and details

Restauriertes Bild in der Farbästhetik der 1960er Jahre

Color photos are subject to a normal aging process. The longer they are exposed to daylight, the faster the colors and details will fade.

Example: A color photo from 1963, the colors are now very faded, details only faintly visible. Complete restoration with reference to the color aesthetics of the 1960s.

Enlarging

Digitally restored picture, fine art print DIN A3

Some photos had to be looked at with a magnifying glass for the entire life of the album, for example, to make out a face. This is no longer necessary thanks to a new, restored and much larger print.

Example: Original 6 × 9 cm contact print, after reproduction and restoration print: 60 cm × 90 cm

Restoration in the aesthetics of time

Image Restoration: Original brochure with kink and faded colours

Image restoration: Restored brochure photograph

Each era of photography had its own aesthetic in terms of color, grain, sharpness, and detail. This needs to be preserved during the restoration process so that the image can remain a credible document of the time.

For example: A two-page spread from an old advertising brochure with a visible crease in the fold was reproduced, the crease removed, and the colors restored to the 1970s printing colors.

Duplicating

A common scenario: There is a family album, but also several siblings who would like to have it. We will be happy to advise you on options to reproduce whole albums or individual images.

Digital replication of the entire album or selected photos
Restoration of selected photos
Creation of new albums or photo books, rearranging photos, reproducing photos larger than the original
Printing of individual photos as fine art prints for framing

Pictorial biographies

Would you like to create your own photo biography from old and new photos, stories, documents, and interviews?

We will guide you through the entire process — from the initial idea to the finished book: We will view, reproduce and edit your photos for printing, conduct interviews with you, and research any missing information. We will write new texts for you, or proofread and correct existing ones. From there, we create your pictorial biography, design the book up to the pre-press stage, and supervise the printing process.

The book you hold in your hands at the end will be a very personal testimony — for yourself or as a gift for children, grandchildren, or friends.

More information coming soon at www.pictorial-biography.com

Stages of the restoration process

Post-production of scans

Editing

When processing your scans, you benefit from our nearly 30 years of experience in analog and digital image processing. With modern software and hardware and a trained eye for photography and art, we satisfy even the most demanding customers. You can provide us with your scans, or we can create them for you from negatives or slides.

Our services include:

Editing or post-production of scans from black and white negatives, resulting in prints that are as good as, if not better than, traditional darkroom prints, with that unique analog look and feel. We know what we’re talking about because for 20 years we were specialists in large-format prints on baryta paper. This was our darkroom: darkroom-museum.com.
Processing of photographic estates
Image processing for the pre-press stage of book production

Special techniques:

Application of black-and-white toning techniques (e.g., sepia toning or two-bath toning) to black-and-white photographs.
Altering the appearance of color photographs, including modern photographs (e.g., appearance as in 1975, color photographs in the coarse-grained and high-contrast style of the bleach bypass effect as used in the movie “1984”)
Subsequent addition of real(!) film grain. Not a commercial effect, not an off-the-shelf filter.
The modifications offered are developed by us.

Black and white photography like from the darkroom

Professional post-processing of black-and-white photos.

Amateur shots can be processed to almost look like professional shots: Lines are straightened as with a tilt-shift lens, and the image itself is processed as with darkroom development. Toning techniques are possible.

Real film grain in digital photos

Black and white photo with real photographic grain

We transform digital color photos into black and white photos with real photographic grain (no filters, no software). This high-quality look enhances any photo book.

Transpose color photos to a different time period

Digitally restored image with the look and feel of old photos

For photo books or photo biographies, additional images are often needed to complement existing imagery. To make this as authentic as possible, we are able to recreate the look and feel of a specific period using today’s digital photography.