18 Jan The Power of Photo Restoration: Why it Matters and How to Think about Your Photos
When it comes to photo restoration, some people believe that the damage a photo sustains becomes part of the image’s provenance and should therefore not be mended or changed. The cracks, tears, and missing information are a visual representation of the photo’s history and story. However, there is a certain privilege that aligns with this argument. How do you accept any type of photodamage when you only have a few images? What are you supposed to do if your images are stuck together due to flooding or fire? When you care for a photo—especially a rare family photo—it is impossible to say, “Oh well, this ugly damage is what makes the photo authentic. It is what it is.”
Many people, including those who advocate for leaving images “as is,” do not understand what goes into photo restoration. In some cases, a professional can repair and fix an original photo. However, the original will almost always remain imperfect, and signs of damage will show in certain situations (i.e., the right lighting or angle). In other cases, a restored reproduction is the only solution. During this process, a digital negative of the original photo is used to clean and repair the image, and a new archival print is made. The original remains unrestored to be housed and stored appropriately.
This process may sound new and modern, but photo restoration and retouching have been around since the advent of photography. It all started in the darkroom.
A Brief History of Photo Restoration
Darkroom professionals used a few tricks to manipulate photos, including burning (darkening select areas in a photo), dodging (lightening select areas in a photo), toning (changing the color of a photo), and using ink or paint to remove blemishes. As artists, photographers were—and still are—perfectionists who were not afraid to use these techniques to remove imperfections and add artistic embellishments. This was either completed during the original printing process or in a reproduction.
Let’s look at an example. Crayon portraits are a cherished photography format and a fantastic example of a reproduction. Photographers took a photo of an existing image and used that negative to create an enlarged weak photographic print. The photographer used charcoal or oils to enhance facial features or add embellishments such as makeup, hair ornaments, jewelry, or updated clothing and accessories. In some cases, photographers used multiple images taken at different moments in time to create a crayon portrait. It’s common to find a family portrait that doesn’t make sense; the husband looks much younger than the wife or the child is facing a different direction. Many crayon portraits were made posthumously when a family wanted to honor a deceased relative. They used crayon portraits to create a family photo out of the images they already possessed.
This creates problems for genealogists. Without the original photo, it’s hard to date the subject; when photographers update collars and neckties, you can’t use clothing or photochemistry to accurately date the photo. You can date the crayon portrait by looking at the photo itself; however, the image isn’t a reliable source of information without the original. Yet, the crayon portrait as a reproduction is often treated as an “original” art form. In fact, many people are shocked to learn their antique image is a form of photo restoration and was created for many of the same reasons we restore photos today.
Modern Photo Restoration: Photo Damage and Technology
Today, people use photo restoration to preserve and uncover their family history. Through restoration, they can discover previously hidden or damaged pieces of information within the photo—a street name, a piece of jewelry, a faded face. This allows people to learn more about their families and create a stable, archival reproduction while the original is safely housed in a frame, album, or museum box. They can share copies with family members instead of dividing or hoarding a photo collection. If someone does not want to keep the original, they can donate it to a collection or archives.
They can also restore a damaged image. There are at least five common types of photodamage:
- Silvering: A chemical damage in the silver emulsion of the photo. The photo appears to have a metallic sheen on the surface (a tarnish). This damage will eventually cause a photo to fade away completely and is irreversible.
- Fading: This can happen due to an error in the original printing process or as a result of environmental factors (i.e., too much direct sunlight).
- Bugs: Insects, such as silverfish, eat the emulsion in photos (as well as documents, linens, and other valuable heirlooms) which leaves little holes throughout the piece.
- Crazing: Just like pottery, a photo can expand and contract due to humidity shifts. This causes little lines and cracks to run throughout the emulsion. That is why this is called “crazing.”
- Mold: this environmental damage can grow on a photo itself or within its storage (a frame or box). This can cause staining and color shifting.
- People: We are our own worst enemy. People love do-it-yourself (DIY) solutions, and this usually results in making the photo more damaged than it was at the start.
There are situations when you can try to restore your photos. Technology is fun, and if you have the time and equipment, some programs and apps can help you repair and remove some damage. However, there are some restrictions and challenges this technology faces. For starters, quality matters in photo restoration. Some apps will only work with cell phone photos of originals. Today’s cell phones are amazing, but they will not capture a high-quality image for reproduction. The final photo may look good on your phone, but it will look soft or pixelated as an 8” x 10”. In fact, many technologies compress and reduce the final quality of their restorations. If you’re already working with a low-quality photo, the quality will only go down.
Damage is another factor that can impact the initial capture. For instance, a silvered photo reflects light. If it is scanned, the digital file will clearly show the metallic shine. This type of photo needs to be photographed to cut through the silvering, and this usually needs to be handled by a professional rather than a cell phone. Other photos are more likely to be damaged by a novice if mishandled. These include convex prints, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, blueprints, glass negatives, and more.
Photo Restoration is an Art, not an App
All of this can lead to inaccuracies. A poor capture will result in a poor restoration. Some damage is irreversible and cannot be fixed. A program will try to make a best guess to “fix” the damage, but it isn’t the magic wand we see on social media. Artificial intelligence (AI) programs use algorithms and best guesses to restore images. Sometimes, it nails a restoration. Sometimes, it does a good enough job. Then there are the times it gives someone extra teeth, makes someone’s skin look jaundiced, or creates something so freaky that you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. You don’t see those videos on social media.
We believe restorations need a human touch for optimal accuracy. A human will restore a smile or try to recreate a hand so it looks natural. A human will paint a photo to create the correct skin tone or research the correct colors for an insignia. A human is not beholden to an algorithm but the photo itself. They work within the perimeters of a photo and give the image an artist’s touch to reveal what is there; it is not guesswork.
People who argue against photo restoration are only seeing the junk that turns mainstream. At its purest form, photo restoration is an art. While it doesn’t require a human touch, the results benefit from it. Instead of manipulating or erasing history, a photo restoration expert uses the existing image—including all of the damage it contains—to elevate the image’s story and capture another generation’s interest.