Film-based photographs deteriorate over time partially due to the chemicals used in their development process and mainly due to the environmental effects of light, moisture, and PH imbalance. Old Town Photo's digital restoration expertise can restore almost all types of damaged prints or films. Once the digital restoration process is complete, we reprint the photo on museum-grade archival media and then apply a UV protective coating to it. The final result becomes a long lasting image using materials and techniques unavailable when the original photograph was taken.
When it comes to restoration there are choices and claims of magic automated software but the fact is if you are asked to send your photograph scanned, they care little about the final result as a piece with important image information preserved in your restored copy.
We have been using advanced tools both in hardware and software to get the job done right, have worked on numerous valuable pieces of various types, including convex oval photos, tin-type, ambrotype, film negatives, and slides, each requiring special care and handling. We do not send items out and are not a home-based business. In the past year, 18% of our clients came to us after having experienced another restoration service provider.
If you are looking for ultimate care and a professional job performed on your cherished old photographs, feel free to send us an inquiry for a free evaluation and estimate. There are many factors that contribute to the cost of a restoration project, for example when enlarging or fade removal is involved, damages not visible to the eye in its current state become apparent and those would need to be corrected too. Once we examine the piece closely, we will be able to quote the cost, and we do not raise the estimate if we encounter more work needed to be done in order to accurately complete the project. As always, we guarantee total satisfaction.
For an elegant display and proper protection of your new old photograph, we offer archival framing with conservation glazing both in standard and custom-made sizes.
Some samples of our photo restoration work are shown via this link.
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| Photo Before restoration | Photo After restoration |
This example shows a 1910 overlay painted photograph in a very poor condition. Oval shaped photo restoration and in particular the convex oval portraits require special handling.
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| Overlay painted photograph Before restoration |
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| Overlay painted photograph After restoration |
Partial list of restoration works we have performed include:
- Oval convex painting or photos in bubble glass frames;
- Tintype(ferrotype), ambrotypes;
- Polaroid captured photos;
- Water or flood damaged photos;
- Faded or color shifted photos
