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Archive for Restoring Your Old Photographs – Page 5

New Photo Albums For Old

I often get asked to reproduce family photograph albums so that various members of the family can share the family history.

I was asked by Moira to recreate an important family photo album so that both she and her sister could have a copy of the book with the historic photographs and handwritten descriptions.

Below is the original and the new lay-flat photobook I created.

Moira said “My sister and I are just glad that we have this marvelous record to share and that you could bring it back to life for us”

 
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Old album and new photobook

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Moira told me

“My father signed up for his national service because the Essex Regiment were going to be posted to India. He had a place a medical school but deferred it to go to India. He loved it there, a complete culture shock from Chingford. The army taught him to drive, allowed him to play hockey and he was upset to leave India having fostered a dog there that he had to leave. My father was a doctor so army life was far from ideal but he appreciated the opportunity he was given and never forgot his time there. He was a keen photographer and you can see the care he took to display each photograph and carefully write an inscription.”

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Photograph Stuck to Glass? No Problem!

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Photographs Forever

 

This photo belongs to my customer Jeanne.

She said “The photo of my mum was just an ordinary one, but when she passed away five years ago I decided to put it in a frame on my window sill and it’s been there ever since. I noticed it had been faded by the sunlight so decided to ask Photographs Forever and see if it could be restored. I then tried to remove it from the frame, it was well and truly stuck to the glass, when I finally got it out (with the help of a knife) my mum’s face was left on the glass, in a wafer thin layer, totally ruined! I was so upset I threw it in the bin.”

I spoke to Jeanne and told her all was not lost. She fished it out of the bin and sent it to me. Above is what I received and the finished restoration below

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Creating a Photograph of The Happy Couple

My customer Isobel P had a photograph of her mum and dad but there was an extra person between them that she wanted to be removed so she could have a nice photograph of her parents together which she could give as a special present to her dad. I only had a skewiff photograph of the original photograph to work with so had to correct the perspective and then manipulate the image to make a good result. Below is the before and after of the photograph in question followed by the review that Isobel kindly left for me on the Yell.com website

Manipulation to create the photo my customer wanted by Photographs Forever

From distorted three person photo to a corrected portrait of the happy couple

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YOU CAN CHECK OUT ALL MY OTHER YELL.COM REVIEWS HERE

Examples of Colourising Faded or Black and White Photographs

I am increasingly asked to either correct really badly faded colour photographs, or add colour to black and white photographs.

Here are some recent examples of work I’ve done.

This first one is one I did for customer Marianne M, see her story below 

Example of colourising a black and white by Photographs Forever

“My uncle now 91 was Captain of St Mary’s Golf Club on St Mary’s and used to play with Harold Wilson and other members where he could have a round of golf without being followed by the press and simply trusted all of the members not to gossip. He knew all of the members and any strange faces he was quite wary of although apparently always very polite. The photo was taken just outside the club and the beautiful uninhabited Island of Samson is in the background . There are beautiful views all over the course. By the way my uncle is still the best player and at the age of 91 only 3 months ago got another “hole in one” So it’s great to have this photo as it most likely appeared years ago.  The photo is fabulous, I am sure my Uncle will be delighted with it”

Here are some more examples 

Example of colourising a black and white by Photographs Forever

A very old and badly defaced and damaged print restored and colourised

Example of colourising a black and white by Photographs Forever

A badly faded photograph thought by my customer to be beyond repair.

Example of colourising a black and white by Photographs Forever

A faded photograph that had lost it’s sparkle brought back to life

 

Example of colourising a black and white by Photographs Forever

This customer knew the original colours of the photograph taken in black and white at the time

Example of colourising a black and white by Photographs Forever

A very old black and white photograph restored and colourised

Example of colourising a faded colour photograph by Photographs Forever

A badly faded poster restored

Example of retouching a colour photograph by Photographs Forever

Removing the unsightly shadow

Example of colourising a black and white by Photographs Forever

Restoring both photographs and then making a montage so the couple are in the same photograph, then colourising

Example of colourising a black and white by Photographs Forever

A very old black and white photograph brought back to life by restoring and colourising

Example of adding colour to a photograph

A badly faded colour photograph restored and printed on archive paper to prevent the same fate occurring in the future

 

Restoration of a Section of an Old Photograph

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I found a very small framed old photograph of one of my family members with his family and wanted to see the man more clearly so I restored that section of the photograph that is just (1.5cm x 2.5cm) which I’ve printed A4 and it looks very good! Above is a photograph of the original photo alongside the A4 print. Below is the restored file.

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Two Recent Photograph Restorations

Here are two restorations I completed recently.

A distracting background changed for a more appropriate one 

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….and a very small, badly damaged oval photograph that’s now been printed 12″ x 9″

Here’s what my customer Sheila B said “Thank you Richard for restoring the very old and battered photo of my mum you made a beautiful job of it I’m so thrilled forever grateful”

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Framed Tribute to a Decorated Soldier

I received an enquiry from Debbie Summers of Acorn Framing in Bognor Regis asking if I could restore a very poor computer print photograph of a soldier she has been asked to frame with the soldier’s medals as a tribute for their family history.

Here is the before and after

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Debbie then suggested that her customer added a nameplate with the details and also a genuine cap badge to go into the frame too. This was agreed and Debbie supplied these.

Here is the finished article

 

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Combining Photos to Create a New Photograph

My customer had two photographs of the subject in different uniforms, taken by flash with the camera set to the wrong shutter speed so half of each photo was black.
 
I removed just the subject from each photo, restored the images and then replaced the background in order for the finished article to look more suitable.
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Make Your Favourite Photos Great!

Here are a couple of examples of photographs we altered recently to make special photographs even more special.

The photo below was taken in a ski resort but with a fence as a background, I added the ski resort.

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Below are the two original photographs, with favourite photos both with portaloos in the background!

So I took the best portrait of each person and put them together on a background of the favourite walk they used to take together.

A lovely reminder of good times.

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100 Year Old Photograph Tells 1000 Words

A photo tells a 1000 words….

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A much faded photo in an old album of photographs of a child born in April 1918 shows that little girl, Hylda, clutching a much loved toy monkey
called Jacko.
Hylda gazed at the photo and recalled that as a small child she listened to the minister of her church in Kingkerswell urging all the children to give a treasured toy as a present to children who would otherwise not receive a Christmas toy. Full of good intentions Hylda gave Jacko away.

Her feelings of good will and self sacrifice lasted a day after which she spent many hours in tears for the loss of her beloved Jacko! Imagine her delight when the beautifully restored photo of Hylda and Jacko came as a special birthday card celebrating her 100th birthday…

Hylda enjoyed wonderful celebrations with her family, and friends and the story of Jacko was once again shared!  The photo and the many others now restored remain as memories for
both Hylda and her family