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i have a picture of my grandfather when he was in the lincolnshire regiment.
it was done in 1921,i dont know if it is a photograph or a print,sketch or what.
the only trouble is it is starting to fade fast.
anybody any ideas how i can stop it fading would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
andy 1

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one way would be to have it laminated, would be preserved forever then :)

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you can only stop it fading by keeping it away from the light. I suggest you get it scanned and then view the copy rather than the original and put the original away.

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I would agree with both of you - in addition, take it into a Photography shop and see what the Pro's think.

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You could clean up the scanned copy too.

Incog.

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Good point. Maybe enhance it by darkening it again if you need too.

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i have the picture in a frame,and i have thought about scanning it.
i was just wondering if maybe there is some sort of acid or something on the picture,and i was wondering if there is any way of neutralising it .
it is not in direct sunlight.but the person who had the picture before me removed it from its original frame,and threw the picture in a cupboard.since then it has gone very yellow and is starting to fade very fast,thats why i wondered if there could be any acid or whatever on it.

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Light is what is causing it to fade fast, now summer is here light is stronger (apart from overcast wimbledon fortnight). Also humidity and temperature variance don't help (all those things they try to control in an art gallery)

Scanning and reprinting would be a good idea, as might be getting this done professionally. Then put it in a dark place (ask a local photographers for a photo paper bag from a box of paper he has finished with)

Photo Paper quality was not as high and processing was not as dilligent back then, the paper will have an acid pH and it probably was not stopped and fixed properly.

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i've got a feeling it is not a photograph.its thicker than normal photo paper of that time.
anybody suggest a good picture restorer in or around lincoln.

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You think it is a painting?

How about scanning it in and letting us see.

Art teacher making this request. :)

Incog. :D

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Scanning it in is a great idea and I suggest you do that now.
We have done this for our old family photos and it is great.
You can then hand the cd's out to family members too.

As for the original piece, I would suggest you take it to a special photographers where they can see if it can be cleaned up.
Then store it in a dry place away from direct sunlight and humidity.

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DONT ASK US

Scan it then before you touch it take it to someone who knows. He are far too dumb to be offering advice on something as priceless as that :)

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You speak for yourself.

I want to see if it is any kind of painting or printing first.

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can't scan it in lads its to large for an attachment

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Do you have a digital camera?Maybe a photo would do instead?

Or scan a small part of it.

Incog.

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thanks for your help lads.i think i will try to get some professional advice on this matter.
regards
andy 1

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Shame! I really wanted to see it.

Anyway do let me know what you find out.

Incog.

OH and LADS???

I'm a laddess. ;)

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Older paper (especially photo paper) is thicker than new. The techniques to roll thin flat paper have improved over time. Does it have any indication that it it photo paper on the back of it?

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If you have PSPro or similar you can scan in, then change the format to a jpeg and resize to under the forum limits.

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If strong light is going to affect it then surely scanning the photo willy nilly is going to make it deterioate faster?

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What on earth is the uproar about this comment? I was simply pointing out that he should taking to a expert picture restorer instead of getting advice of the internet and trying to do it himself

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Hes only looking for a little advice is all! I think it was the way you wrote it :)

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Yes if you were continuously scanning it, but it is a one off exposure to light. Realistically the light from a scanner is likely to be less than the exposure from leaving it in the sun for a week, (or possibly less). I'll work this out if you really want to know.

When a gallery gets a watercolour imaged or photographed, the professional will use flash but this is one day of flash exposure.

Compare to allowing visitors to use flash photography, on a popular image, this could mean 100 flash exposures a day 300 odd days a year. The sort of light level that would cause fading.

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For a start you wrote the opening line in capitals - shouting.

Secondly you answered on behalf of a group of whom you do not know the full skill set, this group is not so much the bunch of techies and geeks you would expect to find on a forum, but includes people from all walks of life. We have teachers, opticians, radio DJs, leatherworkers, etc, I would not be suprised if an art restorer was lurking somewhere, they watch TV too (well I imagine they do - History channel?), and that is really the common bond of this thread, NTL DTV and other cable services.

What you probably should have said was don't ask me, but I would seek expert advice IMHO, you may not find that here, but lets see what others have to say.

Others including myself feel we did have something constructive to say (including ultimately getting experts involved). I think it was written in a way that irritated, indicating to the OP that they should stop asking such questions and go elsewhere, but if you look at threads on here all kind of diverse questions are asked. Lifes experience from many of the members contribute to a constructive and useful answer.

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In reality would you try to repair an old priceless photo yourself if you had no experience? You can give all the advice in the world but you are not there to do anything surely the handling of the task should be left to the experts.

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Well yes I would.

The problem is that if it is a photo, then it cannot be repaired, photos fade in light over time, it's a result of the paper printing process light is used to create the image, then stop (basically an acid to stop the chemical reaction) is used to halt that reaction, but although called stop it really only slows it to a crawl. The only thing you can do to prevent this is keep them in the dark (as it is a light based reaction), then you cannot see them!

If this is a photo, then this is how you preserve the original, to keep on view you need to reprint it. The reprint is a new chemical reaction and will last another 100 years or so.

If you have printed pictures on an inkjet printer using cheap refill ink and cheap paper, you will often find, in a frame that these images will be degrading in 6 months or so, the blacks start going grey, the reds pink. HP and Kodak have invested £ÃÆ ’‚£Ãà¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚£ in getting their papers and inks as permenant as possible, while keeping them water based.

If the OP has a high quality scanner (2400x4800), then realistically the scanned image created using that at full resolution will be as good as any the pro's create (probably better as it will not be a production line job). If that image is then submitted to an on line printing process then you will get a new permanant copy to display.

Others on this site, or just digital graphic artists could probably do wonders to a high quality digital image adjusting the colour profile, contrast etc to reflect the impact of sun fading and restore. The image might need to be FTP'd as if it is this high res it will not email hapily, but the end result would probably be better than the pros.

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here is the picture,anybody any ideas how to clean it up,even improve the jpeg.
thanks
andy 1

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sorry, I still dont understand what you mean 'clear up' or improve the jpeg

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Looks a bit better, cant really extract more detail otherwise it becomes a bit grainy.

http://www.scottyb.co.uk/images/grandad2.JPG

P.s. How do you make it a thumbnail? :confused:

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A nice picture, now you have it scanned in taking it to a proffessional photo shop would be your best bet.

No doubt someone here will be taking your attachment & having a go at improving it.

I'm only capable of, adding a moustache & beer froth on the top lip. :D

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thanks theblueraja
thats improved it a bit,you can see what i mean about it fading,especially under his bandelero.
damien what i meant was maybe make the backgound white instead of yellow.make the picture more like it originally was.
still its not bad for a picture that is 80 years old.

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thanks for the reply zoombini
its been smoking park drive fags for 70 years perhaps thats why its gone yellow.lol

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Hmmm.
Another stab at this methinks....

Any Better?

http://www.scottyb.co.uk/images/grandad3.JPG

Any more than this just starts to loose detail elsewhere, (look at the emblum on the hat). Still it has more "white" round the background.

Still - its no bad.

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The image was probably sepia printed in the first place

http://www.ephotozine.com/techniques....cfm?recid=105

A sepia toned print not only gives a pleasant tonal range, it also has a longer archival lifetime than an untreated print, because silver sulphide is more stable than pure silver.

Your scanned image is 333*458 pixels. Thats not very big. Have you shrunk it to get it to upload to Cable Forum? What size is the original photograph?

Images on screen look far bigger than they do when printed at high quality. This image is about 1in bu 1.5in printed.

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thanks damien,best one yet

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Gives up. :shrug:

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no it was definately not sepia.yes i have shrunk it to be able to upload it.the original picture is 12 by 16 inches.
wow theblueraja thats more like i remember it when i was a boy
thanks guys and incognitas.

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https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2004/07/20.jpg

AAAAiiee!

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See, you need an expert to do the job. :D :D

I think the original colouring looks better than white background, after all who has thier picture taken against a white wall?

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sorry theblueraja damiens picture came up before yours did see above message.
please i don't mean to offend any body

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you always get one don't you zoombini

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:erm:

Wonders how someone will react to having their grandpa "vandalised"...

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No probs i wasnt offended, i just wasnt sure what you were looking for (or even if you were) after i whitened the background like you asked. ;)

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Point taken, apologies Andy.

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if it isn't a secret,how did you do it

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I agree actually, it gives it an authentic "aged" look. But the man gets what the man wants. :D

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I used an application called Photoshop, which gives you lots of options for balancing/ adjusting colours / light levels / hue's and tones.

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I dont think getting the background white will work because you will still have the man it wont look natural

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apology accepted zoombini.
i still think it looks better with the white background,my only point is and i don't like to criticise,its possibly a bit grainy the blueraja.but still when i see what youv'e done with it it still makes me go wow.

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Thats the problem, if you try and change something too much it can become a bit grainy.

If you can send me as full size a scan as you can i can see what i can do with more detail if you like.

PM Me if your interested and i will give you my e-mail address.

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AFAIK you can send it to photoprint.co.uk or somewhere similar & get it printed.

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Try one

http://homepage.mac.com/damienoneill/photo2.jpg


Try Two

http://homepage.mac.com/damienoneill/photo3.jpg

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sorry theblueraja i dont know how to scan the picture in to make it bigger.

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sorry damien no offence but i still like the one with the white background by theblueraja.

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ok dokey

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manners, i forgot to say thanks any way damien.

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I have changed the background to pure white but that makes the photo look very odd as you grand dad is the same and the background is white

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hi damien what i'm trying to say is in theblueraja's picture my grandfather stands out more,it is more like the picture as i remember it in the 50's 60's 70's.the yellow colour as only occured in the last 10 yrs.

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ok

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Damien - I would rep you for effort alone if i didnt need to spread it around a bit more matey.

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I didn't use Photoshop this time I turned to Paint Shop Pro 7 and used the fade correction tool.I hope it helps?

Incog.

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Nice work, I managed to get this far and then gardening called lol

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I think pauls is good although it look grainy

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true true but maybe just a touch dark,but its still theblueraja's with the white background (page 3).
please no offence meant to anyone,i thank you all for your efforts.
regards
andy 1

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No offence taken. :)

However I think it wouldn't hurt to visit an expert Photographer for some advice.One of those independant people.

Personally however I rather like the original.It has a very nice quality to it, as faded as it is.

Incog.

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Yeah, I agree with incog it has a nice feel to keep the whole picture right as it where

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ok, I did one based on the way BJ did it only I have managed to scale back the grainy feeling only it might not be so good as his

http://homepage.mac.com/damienoneill/remake.jpg

:shrug:

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There, you have loads to play with now.

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thats the idea damien,now youv'e got me in a fix i like it as much as theblueraja's.

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Lucky we are link to external sites, the admins would be having a fit if all these where attachments :D

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Nice .... Better than my one - nowhere near as grainy.

But BJ????

What would Mr Freud think? Tut-tut :D

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I just wish you would take the size down a little. ;)

It's rather overpowering at the size it is now.

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When you scan the picture, look at the scanner settings and set them all to maxium, max dpi, slow scan speed, maximum quality.

Then email that image to him, hopefully it will be under the 3Mb NTL mail limit. Otherwise upload it to your NTL webspace where he can download it from.

The size of an image on screen (72 dpi) is about 4x the size it will be on paper (300dpi), so will look overpowering.

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Yeah, Then i can have another stab at it to :)

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http://homepage.mac.com/damienoneill/onemoretime.jpg

Made it a bit less blurry its smaller to meet incogs point so request the bigger version if needed......

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Could always attach the image to the post instead of shrinking it, that way we just see the thumbnail ;)

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the filesizes are quite big, It would suck a lot of bandwidth

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now your cooking damien.double WOW.
tell me did you want me to scan it larger.
thanks
andy 1

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Well i am happy with the picture i have it all down to you! What do you want done to the above image?

Personally even if you give me a bigger one i would only make it smaller anyway the one you gave was big enough

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thanks a lot damien.
i'm quite happy with the last one,now i will get my son to print it off on A4 size photographic paper.
although does anybody know if i can take the jpeg anywhere and get a print larger than A4.

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you should be able to. Do you want me to post the bigger version? Also I can make it a bit darker (the man not the background)

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any chance of the bigger version.and maybe one slightly darker so you can still see his eyes

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that is the bigger version.......

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also if you like i can make into a little avatar so you can have it under your name like i have the english/french flag under mine?

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Damien those images aren't excessive in their file sizes but are very big on screen :eek: Can you attach them to the post next time as this thread would be a severe problem for anyone using a dial up account ;)

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Here we are small, large and one thats a bit lighter

I am now removing all of my other images

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Some very nice work there Damien and thanks for attaching them, the page load time was starting to suffer a bit at times LOL ;)

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Me thinks that this thread has a candidate or two for Most Helpful Post of July.

Hint. ;)


Incog.

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an avatar would be nice damien,the middle thumbnail if possible.
then if you could tell me what to do to put it after my name.
thanks

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andy is that ok? Anything else? DO you want it as a smaller picture so you can have it as your avatar?

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yes please

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ok, Its simple you go to control panel then to edit avatar then you paste in the link i will give you (or you can upload it)

I am making it now,

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Once the image is done you can right click the image and save it to your harddrive. (save it to your desktop temporarily if you want to find it easily)
Then go into your forum User CP and select "edit avatar", about half way down that screen you have the oprion to upload the image you want to use from your computer.
Select browse and then navigate to where you saved the image and then click the image file in question and then select "save changes" at the bottom of the window. It should then upload the image as your avatar picture.

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thanks paul when i get the avatar of damien i will do it

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Here ya go,

EDIT: I have made one to fit into the background

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i've done it damien lets see if it works.

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yep it works :)

but use the other one i just posted so it fits into the backround