Here is the original photograph, then the restored and colourised version. I knew what colour the Union Jacks were – all the rest were my best guess!
Photograph Before Restoration
Photograph After Restoration and Colourising
No Risk Photograph Restoration - Free Advice Call 01825 740986
Archive for my family tree – Page 2
Colette first contacted me in October 2012 and since then I have scanned many of her family photographs. I asked Colette to tell her story…..
“I think it all started with me seeing your advert in a local magazine and being sad at seeing my son Fabrice’s photos, taken in the 1970s, deteriorating rapidly. I had made an album for him for his 30th birthday in Dec 2002. I more or less stuck the original photos in chronological order in the album and wrote a line of text underneath each photo with the date and the place it was taken. Fabrice was absolutely thrilled with that first album. For him, it was like going back to his roots, if you see what I mean. I had the impression of having given him his childhood back and he was very moved that I had spent quite a bit of time making that album.
After I saw your advert, I thought you were the person who could save Fabrice’s photos. I gave you a small job and I was very pleased with the work you did, so I unstuck all the photos which were in Fabrice’s handmade album and gave them to you to scan and optimize in a view to make a new album. You showed me the albums you’d made for your children and I thought they were brilliant.That’s when I thought I had to do the same for my other children, Marianne and Hugo, not just Fabrice. While the work was in progress for the first albums which I gave to my children for Christmas 2014, you gave me plenty of advice and you showed limitless patience as I changed my mind time and time again.
My three children got their second album for Christmas 2015 and to see their reaction when they first look at it is priceless and worth all the efforts. They look at each other’s album and exchange memories and ask each other questions. As a parent, it is really wonderful to see. Albums number 3 are in the pipeline for Christmas 2016, for the three of them as their pictorial history continues.”
Here’s a double page spread of one ofr the the finished photobooks – 29cm x 29cm, 100 pages – a great opportunity to enlarge the best photographs too
29cm x 29cm, 100 page photobook
4057 Photographs To Be Optimised….
A customer recently brought me the entire collection of his photographs dating from 1945 to 1985.
This turned out to be a total of 4057 photographs that completely filled two large suitcases, with each of the 87 folders carefully labelled.
I scanned, cropped and optimised every photograph and put a digital copy of every photograph before and after optimisation on a 32Gb USB Memory stick.
This created a total of 8114 digital files which all fitted onto the memory stick and incredibly there was remaining space for a further 16,000 digital photograph files!
32Gb Memory Stick containing 8114 digital photographs and still with enough space for a further 16,000 images. 24, 000 photographs on your key ring can’t be bad!
I was sent this very old photograph that had been rolled op for many years and had become so dry that became cracked and torn and of very limited use to enjoy. With some care and attention this is now digitally restored to its original condition
Favourite Photographs Scanned and Optimised
This is a great opportunity to get a quantity of your favourite photographs scanned and optimised for just 99p each.
The normal cost of this service is £3.50 each or £2.50 each if there are more than ten photographs.
Other Scan/Optimise Packages Available
50 Photographs @ £1.35 each
25 photographs @ £1.75 each
WHY YOU SHOULD I GET MY PHOTOS SCANNED AND OPTIMISED?
- It brings your photographs to life
- Share the photos in a single album with other members of the family
- Make prints and enlargements
- No longer the only photos in existence!
- Share your photos with others
You can show the finished images on your computer screen and TV
This is an example of before and after scan and optimisation
RECENT TESTIMONIALS
“My goodness, they look amazing! Very many thanks, how clever you are!” KC
“The photos are fab! You are a genius! Many thanks” PC
“Excellent and thanks! I’m actually really thrilled with them and will promote you to everyone” SW
“I’ve just received the photographs, they are perfect thank you very much indeed, you are a gentleman.
As I said before I shall be back to you in the future with some more work” JC
This is a great way to save money on your photograph restoration so get in touch now!
If you’re a regular user of Genes Reunited, you may already have investigated our Keepsafe feature, which allows you to upload treasured family photographs and documents. It’s a great way to ensure your digital legacy – a carefully curated and preserved archive that you can share with your family. But what about all those old photos that you keep meaning to scan in, but just haven’t had the chance? Photos, like any archive material, can degrade over the years – have you checked on those shoeboxes and old albums recently?
Richard Haines of Photographs Forever specialises in restoring old photographs, and says “Unfortunately photographs don’t age well and over time their quality deteriorates. Because photos are printed on paper, things such as handling, light, moisture, dust, and scratches often affect them. Regrettably, these factors can ruin our photos and prevent them from lasting through future generations. Poor storage, such as keeping photos in attics or basements or allowing photos to be exposed to sunlight, have all contributed to the poor condition of most of our photo collections.
“It is a very good idea to restore your special photographs or even entire photo collection in order to stop the unavoidable destruction that will take place no matter how carefully the photos are stored. Once you have digital copies you needn’t worry about further damage because digital images do not change at all.”
Faded photograph restored
You can even get enlargements made of restored photos – perhaps you’d like to present your parents with a framed version of their favourite photo on their first holiday, or give all the grandchildren a copy of an old (but badly scratched and folded) family photo. Richard comments “Since old photographs have a tendency to degrade over time, professional photo restorers have developed digital techniques for restoring your old photographs and they can eliminate scratches, cracks, tears, and fading as well as repairing other damage. Many precious old photographs, often the last copy in existence, are good quality but too small to see the detail. Restoration not only captures the image electronically but then allows the restored photograph to be enlarged so prints and enlargements can be made or framed so they can be truly enjoyed in all their glory.”
Tattered portrait photograph of soldier rescued
Once you can see the detail in those old photos more clearly, they may even hold valuable clues to aspects of your family history – who’s that woman standing on the edge of the family group? What’s that landmark in the background? Richard says “Deteriorating photos may provide important historical links in your family or possible clues about your ancestors. When rebuilding your family tree, it is possible to determine certain aspects of your ancestry, such as weddings, landmarks of geographical nature and important occasions. Enhancing your old photos may reveal details you had not noticed before.” Remember, when you upload your photos to Keepsafe, you can choose to make them public to other Genes Reunited users and invite others to help you investigate them further – someone else might have the answers you’ve been looking for.
Take some time this week to look over your old photographs and create safe digital copies of them – you may even find precious photos you’d like to see restored. And if you have any questions regarding preserving old photographs then Richard would be happy to help you.
Try Keepsafe now
by Richard Haines of Photographs Forever
Click HERE to see the Blog entry on Genes Reunited’s own website
People that have had their special photographs restored will have realised the value of having had this work done.
As well as restoring damaged and faded black and white photographs there are other types of restoration I thought you may be interested to know that I do.
I’ve recently restored a newspaper article dated January 1966 which was very fragile and about to fall apart. Here’s the before and after, having combined two parts of the newspaper:
Then there’s the terrific artwork that our children have done at school on awful quality paper that fades and tears so easily.
Still retaining all it’s original charm this painting is now saved forever, can be printed and framed, any size, and it won’t fade as the prints are on archive paper :
I can digitally restore and make huge improvements to all your:
- Damaged photographs
- Faded black & white/colour photographs
- Photographs that contain unwanted articles, backgrounds or even people!
- Newspaper cuttings and photographs
- Drawings and paintings
- Children’s artwork
- Documents
- Virtually any printed material!
So do make the time to dig out those important photographs, paintings or newspaper articles etc and get in touch with me so I can restore them to their former glory or, in many cases, give you results better than the original ever was!
If you’re still thinking about getting those special photographs of yours restored, see what recent customers have said about the results I produced for them.
“The restored photos arrived today and they are really excellent. They recall teenage and early twenties so well that I was, as Victoria Wood used to say, filling up! Thank you so much Richard.”
Tom G – Ambleside, Cumbria
“Hi Richard. You have produced another masterpiece! My mother and fathers wedding photograph is great.”
Frank A – Birmingham
“Hi Richard – photographs received this morning. They’ve surpassed my expectations and are truly lovely. Thank you so much for taking the time to readjust the colours. We have I think achieved a wonderful true to life result which my parents will be overjoyed with. I will recommend Photographs Forever to friends and family.”
Jane S – Aylesbury
Tom G – Ambleside, Cumbria
“Hi Richard. You have produced another masterpiece! My mother and fathers wedding photograph is great.”
Frank A – Birmingham
“Hi Richard – photographs received this morning. They’ve surpassed my expectations and are truly lovely. Thank you so much for taking the time to readjust the colours. We have I think achieved a wonderful true to life result which my parents will be overjoyed with. I will recommend Photographs Forever to friends and family.”
Jane S – Aylesbury
SOME EXAMPLES OF BEFORE AND AFTER RESTORATION
Remember, I can digitally restore and make huge improvements to all your:
- Damaged photographs
- Faded black & white/colour photographs
- Photographs that contain unwanted articles, backgrounds or even people!
- Newspaper cuttings and photographs
- Drawings and paintings
- Children’s artwork
- Documents
- Virtually any printed material!
So do make the time to dig out those important photographs etc and get in touch with me so I can restore them to their former glory or, in many cases, give you results better than the original ever was!
Do you have loads of your precious photographs safely tucked away somewhere?
With the promise of snow and cold January days and nights what better time is there for you to locate and rummage through your old family photographs?
Although we all have photographs we feel are really precious, how often do we actually look at them? I know from personal experience that once you sit down and start looking through your photographs it’s a really enjoyable experience!
Maybe you’ll find that some of them are very small that you may like enlarged or framed so you can keep them on view to be continually enjoyed. Others may be looking faded or tatty and would benefit from being digitally restored.
If you find you have a quantity of photographs that you would like to create into a Photobook the cost for a high quality scan and basic image optimisation is as little as £2.50 per picture.
This means you’ll be able print copies and enlargements as well as email your photos to others.
So make an appointment with yourself for this weekend and check those photographs out. You’ll be glad you did!
Let me know how it goes..
Maybe you’ll find that some of them are very small that you may like enlarged or framed so you can keep them on view to be continually enjoyed. Others may be looking faded or tatty and would benefit from being digitally restored.
If you find you have a quantity of photographs that you would like to create into a Photobook the cost for a high quality scan and basic image optimisation is as little as £2.50 per picture.
This means you’ll be able print copies and enlargements as well as email your photos to others.
So make an appointment with yourself for this weekend and check those photographs out. You’ll be glad you did!
Let me know how it goes..
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For Christmas we gave our children their own 100 page Photobook of themselves growing up. They were all absolutely thrilled to bits with them..
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Most importantly your photographs, once scanned, can be stored safely on a CD with no fear of them fading or deteriorating ever again.
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RECENT RESTORATIONS
Below is a photograph in a newspaper where my customer’s son was cycling with Bradley Wiggins. Newspaper articles are usually relatively poor print quality with the ‘dots’ being very visible when enlarged. This restored photograph was printed 15″ x 10″ and looked really impressive.
The photograph below was an interesting challenge. The original photograph had been badly damaged by water. Not only that but the original frame glass was also smashed and the photograph was stuck to the broken glass! As the photograph had great sentimental value, the customer had framed the stained original complete with the broken glass in a new glazed frame! It was not possible to scan so I photographed it and restored from that image.
Mounted in a new frame with mount finished the transformation.
So if you need any help or advice in relation to storing, cataloging, scanning or restoring your photographs, don’t hesitate to Richard a call on 01825 740986 any time, I’ll always be happy to help.
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