RESTORATION PHOTO SPECIALISTS

Photographic restoration of damaged photos requires a high level of photographic and Photoshop expertise, as well as artistic skill. While a photo that is simply faded by time can be scanned, adjusted, and reprinted without much technical knowledge, ones in which important details have been obscured or obliterated require what only years of training and experience can produce. The path to developing that level of skill costs many thousands of dollars.

The other factor in pricing restoration work is the value of the original to its owner. Often, that damaged photo is all that a family has of an ancestor. In a recent project, the owner had photographed her photo with a cell phone, hoping to find an artist who could restore it for her. When she got around to finding the photo and bringing it to me, she discovered that she had accidentally discarded it with other objects she was cleaning out. That cell phone image was all she had and all that I could work with. In her words, “ I am in an absolute panic. I cannot find the photo and my worst fear is that I accidentally threw it out with old photo albums last month…. I’m too upset to even cry."