DIY Restoration

A chinese lion statue

As a hobby or as a service to friends and family, taking an old, damaged, torn or faded photograph and lovingly restoring it to it's former glory is a fantastic pass-time.

Sure, it takes hours and hours of dedicated practice to start to do a half way decent job.  BUT the simple reward of taking a faded memory and restoring it is truly staggering.

The equipment you need is modest:

PC / MAC
Don't want to start a PC vs MAC debate here -- any reasonably new machine will do for starters.  If its less than 3 year old, it'll do.

Scanner
 (or images direct from a digital camera)

Scanners come in all shapes and sizes (and costs).  I suggest starting with a desktop, flatbed capable of at least A4 size and at least 2400dpi.  The higher the resolution the sharper the scan, more detail and the larger you can enlarge (to a point)

Software
 The mainstay of PC applications will be Paint Shop Pro (cheaper and more accessible) and Adobe Photoshop (more expensive, professional application).

Poking round on Google, you will find a wealth of alternatives, and some like the excellent and powerful GIMP are 100% free.  Google search

How to manuals
 You can't go wrong with some of the more excellent self-help books that are available from Amazon.  Amazon search here.

 

Final thoughts

Photograph restoration and repair is a rewarding hobby.  It will take time, effort and some cost to become proficient enough to offer your services to friends and family, but as a fun and low cost hobby you can't go wrong.  And as I keep telling my wife -- at least I'm not in the pub.

 

See Gallery for examples of our previous photograph restorations
See Prices for our "honour based" pricing