Photo restoration

CAframer

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Nov 19, 2003
Posts
3,834
Loc
Orange County, CA
Does anyone have a contact (ideally in Southern CA) that does restoration of photographs (i.e. a conservator who will restore the orginal, NOT make a computer corrected copy).

Thanks for your help
 
The "old method" or photo restoration was to make a copy negative, print a work copy, and retouch this copy. It was then rephotographed and copies made.

I have never heard of "Original photos" being conserved other than some in museum collections. That being said, there might be a reference for a conservator through AIC.
 
I've done photo restoration for years and Jerome is right. There are few methods that work on the original. Photos are not like paintings. Once a photo is damaged, it is almost impossible to fix the original like you can a painting. It is usually cheaper and easier to make a copy and do the correction on the negative/new print or on a digital scan using a computer.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of photo is it? Old, new, b&w, color, silver gelatin, inkjet, tintype, etc. Also, what kind of damage does it have?
 
CA -
Because photographic emulsions vary from process to process - it is very difficult to actually do restoration on the original. As Anne mentioned in her post you would most likely get better results (and cheaper) by scanning the original, repairing it in photoshop and printing it thru a good photo lab in your area.
 
CA There used to be an old guy in Newport but forget what the street was.... ran across the 55. He was south of the 55.

There was another old guy in the 400 block of Brand Blvd in Glendale. He was on the east side. Near the FedEx office. Or was that in the 550 building???

Call the Bowers Museum. They should know someone for those early Califonia photos of theirs.
 
Balboa Conservation Center http://www.rap-arcc.org/welcome/balboa.htm

or in LA you could call the Getty or LACMA conservation departments.

The Ransom Center in Texas http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/about/conservation/photo/

It depends what needs to be done. Tear repair and inpainting are standard paper conservation treatments, more involved treatments usually go to conservators who specialize in that area. A new training program has just started in Rochester I believe.

Rebecca
 
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