Photo Restoration question

[Dwalt]

Originally Posted by TCMA

My vote is to leave the original undisturbed. Make a beautiful hi-res scan then have someone proficient in photoshop add the missing portion. You should then be able to create an extremely high quality print for display.


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For display purposes, it is very simple for anyone even moderately proficient in the use of Photoshop to scan and "Restore" an old image to near-original pristine appearance or better, and blow it up to make any size print desired for framing and hanging it on your wall. And an internet search will turn up many sources that can perform photo restoration. I have done that work myself to many older photos with good results, and I am what no one would call a master of Photoshop. But of course such an image is a reproduction and would have no collector value, purely decorative. Otherwise, I personally would leave it as-is and in the slab in order to preserve its value.

[ichieh]

So imperfection is worth more than restored perfection? It is very counter intuitive.

[lumberjack]

A few years back, a friend got an estimate of $8,000.00 for the restoration of three Conlon photos. I don't remember the people he approached.

Paul Messier in Appleton, Wisconsin, does restoration and authentication.

Integrated Paper Services, IPS, also deals in the above.

These guys aren't foxing around.

I can understand repairing a photo with a nasty tear or missing emulsion, but rebuilding a missing corner of a photo is asking a lot.

Some people like the water-color/ink added to a photo by a newspaper art department decades ago. I've known collectors who would trim the jagged edges off of a Conlon to make it look cleaner. It's all a matter of taste.

This is a great Ruth photo as is.
lumberjack