The Fine Art Landscapes of Curt Bronson - Photo Restoration Service

Original Unrestored Print Restored Print

Our photo restoration service strives to be the best. Above you can see an approximation of an original print prior to scanning, and the completed restoration (There is no "original" we can truthfully show because the restoration inevitably begins in the scan phase where the overall print density and contrast are corrected with the scan). This image was kept in a sleeve/folder with a foldover cover to allow it to be stored or displayed open on a tabletop so in addition to the normal fading, you can see the effect of the acid bearing board from the folder around the edges. You may not be able to see the effects of the paperboard on the center area of the original where it was in contact with the cover of the sleeve as easily, but if you look carefully you can see the mottling effects of this on the darkest areas of the photo, especially the pant legs of the male subjects closest to the center. Clicking on either image will bring up a larger version (which may take some time to load on a dialup connection). Note that the actual restored image appears as if it were taken yesterday, the "large" versions you see on the next pages are far less detailed than the actual prints are- the actual files are 164 megabytes and a true representation of the result here would take over an hour to load on a dialup connection.

Our restorations are priced at $25 per hour and include an 8x10 unmounted print of the restored photo with a minimum charge of $20. If multiple images are restored, only one 8x10 print of one image is included, please contact me prior to sending in multiple photos to discuss what you want and arrange prices. For an additional $5 the image will be written to a CD in "tiff" (.tif) format and returned to you. If multiple images are restored, as many as can be fit on a CD will be, each additional CD will be charged at $5 if more than 1 CD is required. Tiff is used because the software to handle it is generally a part of most reasonably modern computer operating systems and it preserves all the original data in the digitized image, whereas JPEG (.jpg) format uses compression which inevitably omits some of the detail from the image. The example shown above would have been subject to the $20 minimum since it took about 40 minutes to do the complete restoration. A photo with more severe fading, or damage, or unusual detail that is not recovered in the scan phase will inevitably take somewhat longer, and color photographs will generally take more time and often produce less striking results. The other point to note is that details that have faded out of existence on the original cannot be recovered, and although reasonable amounts of sharpening will be done as part of the restoration process, "fuzzy" detail in the original will be fuzzy in the result.

Please contact me by email, phone, or ground mail to discuss and arrange for a photo restoration. If you can email a scan of the photo I will try to estimate the amount of time that would be required to restore it. Prints to be restored should be completely enclosed in heavy cardboard (I recommend 2 sheets of normal corrugated box cardboard as large or larger than the original on either side of the print at a minimum), the package should be clearly marked "Original antique photographs, fragile, do not bend" on both sides, and must be insured for an appropriate amount. The subject photo was "dry mounted" to the back board of the sleeve requiring disassembly of the sleeve to scan the photo, and the sleeve was subsequently repaired such that there was no resultant evidence of the disassembly. Although we will make every effort not to leave visible evidence of damage on sleeves or mountings, if a photo is sent mounted we are not responsible for any damage to the mountings resulting from disassembly required to scan the photograph, and disassembly and reassembly time will be added to the actual restoration time to determine the total number of hours charged.