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Magic Eraser Makes it Easy to Edit Photos on the Google Pixel

2/14/2023

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Poof! Annoying people and objects edited out of your precious photo in a single tap. Google’s Magic Eraser tool makes it easier than ever to edit photos on your handheld device.

How does it do that?​
Thanks to new advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Google’s machine learning, this new feature makes what used to be an intensive job a much simpler exercise. Of course, not every photo can be restored by machines. For best results with more serious issues on that precious, one of a kind photo contact us (https://www.photofixrestore.com/contact) and see what a human photo restorer can do!

Is it really that simple?
Yes, it is as simple as drawing a circle around whatever you might want removed. It gives you a preview, where you can decide what to remove and what to save. While it is not perfect how it crops background objects, it is quite impressive!
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Before
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After (notice the man on the right is cropped out!)

Does it really work that well?
While it is not as perfect as a professional photo editor, it can be a handy and convenient tool!

Artificial intelligence already has many useful features for photo editing technology. Auto-brightness, filters, and auto-color are some tools that iPhone or Android users might already be familiar with. But the Magic Eraser takes it to another level - removing pesky objects like telephone poles, strangers at a crowded beach, or maybe even facial pimples.


Is Google Pixel the only phone that does this?
Yes, while the Google Pixel is the only phone at the moment that comes with this auto-removal function, there are other ways to achieve similar results. The Magic Eraser can also be accessed through Google Photos. Snapseed has a ‘Healing’ option which colors over objects you want removed. And the TouchRetouch app offers an Object Removal function. Android police explains these alternatives in more detail. https://www.androidpolice.com/best-magic-eraser-alternatives/
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What are some other options for restoring my photos?
There are lots of other services you can find online to help transform your old photos to their former glory. Repairing serious issues like rips, fading, or discolorations is best achieved by a professional photo restorer. It is also possible to colorize a black and white portrait to make it feel like a contemporary image. For more information on colorization, follow this link for a more thorough explanation: https://www.photofixrestore.com/colorizing-photos

For more information on how useful the magic eraser tool is, check out this article by Tom’s guide: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/google-pixel-6-magic-eraser-tested-how-good-is-it

For step-by-step instructions, see it explained by PhoneArena here: https://www.phonearena.com/news/how-pixel-6-magic-eraser-works_id135993
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PhotoFixRestore Featured in Colorization of Old Photos Article

1/17/2023

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Bored Panda (with a whopping 120M monthly readers) reached out to us earlier this week, curious about our photo colorization work (https://www.photofixrestore.com/colorizing-photos.html) for a story they were doing (https://www.boredpanda.com/colorized-black-and-white.../). These are some extracts of the published interview which appeared this morning. We are happy they reached out to us to get an expert’s view on how colorization works, and why people are so excited about it.
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Why colorize a black and white photo?

Old photos are the closest thing we have to a time machine.  Looking at an old photo is like peeking through a small hole in the dark blanket of time.  Colorizing an old photo makes that experience even more real.

To see an old black and white photo carefully colorized is always an emotional experience because it makes us realize that we are really like those people, separated by years but not by our humanity.

Adding color brings the people and the surrounding items back to life with an immediacy and an impact that can be truly stunning. Colorizing old photos really is a way to make them come alive. You feel like you might have known them.
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How does colorization work?

In the old days we used paints and pencils applied directly to the photographic print, first applying a spray lacquer to create a “key” for the paints or pencils, then going to work like you would with a coloring book.

These days we scan the image in high resolution then open it in Photoshop.  Next, we restore any tears or scratches, and apply a very light sepia tone – this helps later get the right skin tone when we apply color.

We then go to work applying color, digitally painting each item individually on a separate Photoshop layer.  Sometimes we end up with 50 or more layers! But the real secret is getting the tone right.
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Does colorizing damage the original?

In the days of manual coloring, there was the high likelihood that the original would have to be replaced. However, using modern photoshop methods, the precious original can be kept safe while a new copy is digitally authored.

To learn more about why people are colorizing old photos, check out this article in the Paso Robles Daily News: https://pasoroblesdailynews.com/should-you-colorize-your-old-family-photos/128928/​

For more explanation on how colorization works, take a look at the colorization page on our website! https://www.photofixrestore.com/colorizing-photos.html
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Coke Saves the World! (And We Help)

11/12/2019

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This week PhotoFixRestore helped the Coca Cola Company with a series of stunning black and white old photo colorizations and repairs which Coke then used in its 2019 Veterans Day social media campaign.

To be chosen and trusted by Coke to do this aesthetically demanding and technically tricky work is, to say the least, quite a compliment to the team here.  And we celebrated how? You guessed it:  With Coke! (Diet Cokes all around).

Coca Cola has been around for a long time and during WWII it shipped a gazillion bottles to soldiers fighting overseas.  It is not hard to imagine how welcome a Coke would have been to these heroic, exhausted men.  The Company tweeted yesterday:

"Our history of supporting the U.S. military began in 1941 when Coca-Cola President Robert Woodruff vowed to make Coca-Cola available to every person in uniform for five cents, no matter what it cost the company. Our legacy of serving those who serve continues today."
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The work we did restoring and colorizing old photos for Coca Cola is the same as we do for all clients: We accessed and assessed the images,  we then restored them in black and white by eliminating dust and marks, tweaking tone and contrast, lightening dark areas and darkening light areas. We used a very light touch though. With historical images the adjustments need to be nuanced and subtle.  Next, we researched colors for nurses and soldiers uniforms, brands, patches and insignias and created a library of reference images. We then got to work with our digital paint brushes.  Once we were satisfied - and that is not easy to do - we sent previews to the team at Coke who consulted their higher ups and pronounced themselves very happy with the work. We worked to a very tight timetable and the photos went out on Veterans Day 2019 to Coke's 3.5M followers.

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Questions Answered

Yes, prices are reasonable.

Yes, we deliver the full resolution digital file plus a print on super premium art paper not available with "big box" restorers.

Yes, all work is carried out here in the United States - it is never outsourced  to India.
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If you need help with an old photo restoration or with an old photo colorization just click through to our contact page
and speak to Peter.  With PhotoFixRestore you speak directly to the owner who is also our master restorer!

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Lieutenant Tilley: WWII Army Portrait Colorized

7/2/2019

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Lamar State College is a two year school in Orange, Southeast Texas. And this year it is celebrating its first 50 years in education. These days, the College has nearly 3,000 students and offers courses in five divisions: liberal arts, mathematics and science, business and technology, education and allied health. It offers 30 technical programs and is a jewel to the town of Orange, the surrounding communities and the wider Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana.
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Lamar State College is also a school that remembers its history, and its modest beginnings in the former Tilley Elementary School (then an extension of Lamar University). Tilley Elementary commemorates a heroic young man named William Tilley who heeded his Nation's call and enlisted to serve in WWII. Tragically, lieutenant "Bill" Tilley became the first fatality from Orange, Texas in that terrible conflict.

The school needed a formal portrait of Lieutenant Tilley to grace their halls - but none was to be found. There was an old monochrome portrait – but it was not in great shape. Could the old photo be restored? Could it perhaps (gulp) be colorized? Which is where PhotoFixRestore came in! Working with Lamar State College we were able to make the photo restoration and, after some research to confirm colors for his Army uniform, add color to the old photo and bring it back to life. The College chose to have us print the portrait at 16" x 20" on super premium Epson "Exhibition Fiber" paper.
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It's not all hard work and study at Lamar State College of course. The school just welcomed its first athletic team. And this being Southeast Texas and the school being located just above the gulf - with all its rivers and lakes and estuaries - that team is, of course, the fishing team. And their mascott? Tilley the Gator!
Many thanks to Amy Moore at Lamar College for allowing us to share this wonderful story.
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Enhancing a Photo that's Not Terrible - Just So-So

4/22/2019

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A lot of our work here at PhotoFixRestore is working on really tough images: water damage; photos torn into pieces; radical color shifts into magenta; fading so bad that features have disappeared from faces and color that is all but lost; we are even asked to remove people who are no longer in the family!

But there is another category of our photo work that is not so much photo repair as photo enhancement.  You may have a favorite photo that is not in terrible shape - but it is just not what it could be. It might be crooked; or perhaps the central figure is too remote. Maybe you had some slides scanned and they came out dark - or pocked with dust.

Sometimes you just need some wrinkles removed or some skin smoothed - nothing too dramatic or fake of course. But poor lighting can make features look worse than in reality they really are. 
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These are all issues that can be very annoying but can also be fixed.

Folks ask us to improve images to replace a favorite image in a frame, to use on a website or for promotional purposes, as a gift, or for memorial cards - or for any one of a thousand different and all valid reasons.

Call us, or upload an image, for an obligation free opinion on what can be done to improve your so-so photo.
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New Book Features Our Sumptuous Photo Colorizing Work!

1/12/2018

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A major new book on the history of Clay County, Kentucky has been published featuring over a dozen historical photos - sumptuously colorized by the digital artists right here at PhotoFixRestore!

"The Clay We Were - A Visual Journey" celebrates the early history of Clay County in the western Appalachians and the special breed of hardy people who called it home. The 450 page, large format volume was curated by the Clay County Genealogical and Historical Society and contains more than 1800 photos!
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(We made the cover!)
The history of Clay County is also the history of the westward movement and settlement of people across the vast United States.  "Clay County has been a center for both salt and coal production, timber and agriculture, beautiful homes and rich traditions, a place where people are known for hard work, steadfast faith, and family values," the book tells us.

Working with the professionals at the Genealogical and Historical Society, we were involved in helping select images appropriate for restoration and colorizing. We then carried out research to determine appropriate colors.  For example, in the image of an older gentleman standing in front of a country store (see slideshow below) we were able to locate a number of historical advertising signs to inform our choice of palette. Then we went to work!
We were stunned to read that we were given a very generous shout out:

"To our new friend in California, Jane Shafron, at Your Story Here (dba as PhotofixRestore), the work you do to colorize old photos is amazing! We know everyone is going to be as impressed as we are with the finished products." 
The Clay County Genealogical and Historical Society is in the forefront of historical societies in discovering and researching its own history and making that history accessible to its people - and to folks all across the country. The quality of the work is astonishing.

If you would like a copy of this intriguing and important hard cover tome (sewn, not glued) then you can order copies direct from the Society.  Visit their website (https://clayfamilies.org/shop) or email the good people there at ccgnhs@gmail.com.
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Unique Gift Idea: Colorize an old B&W Photo!

11/15/2017

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This time of year, many of our clients are asking us to colorize an old black and white photo to give as a gift. It is often an old photo of a grandmother or a grandfather, or a parent back in their glory days! Sometimes it's a picture of a loved one who has now passed.  Or, it's a color picture which, with the passage of time (and poor original chemistry) has lost its vibrancy.

Colorizing an old black and white photo can make it come alive in a whole new way. The image might be familiar but the addition of carefully chosen colors can give the photo a whole new lease on life! Details which had been overlooked, all of a sudden become apparent.
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Colorizing an old black and white photo

The process for colorizing an old black and white photo is very straightforward.  We scan the image with our pro equipment then bring it into Photoshop. (If time is a factor we can also work with your scan.) We clean up any scratches, spots and tears. We inquire about colors and if the client has knowledge of any particular tones that apply. We identify any items which, with a few web inquiries on our part, may have had particular colors (e.g. uniforms, insignia, grocery items, etc) and we do that research. And we get to work. The process is meticulous - but with our experienced digital photo artists it can be done fairly briskly.

Ultimately, it is a blend of technology and art.  And a big part of the exercise is judgment and restraint - overly bright and super-saturated colors seldom work with older images.  The result, done right is a new heirloom that will be a treasure for generations. (Here is more about our photo colorization services.)
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Apply your colorized photo to anything!

Once completed, most people ask us to print the colorized black and white photo on one of the quality papers we use for our photo repair and  restoration work.  Exhibition Fiber or an archive cotton paper both work well.  More on photo printing papers... 

But you can get even more creative if you wish.

What about cups and plates, mouse pads, fridge magnets and canvas prints? All great ideas for your restored colorized photo.  These days, the list is almost endless:  Metal prints, acrylic prints, posters, iPhone cases, Galaxy cases, greeting cards, throw pillows, duvet covers, tote bags, t-shirts, sweatshirts, baby onesies, greeting cards, and the list goes on. Imagine the delight and surprise of your loved one!
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Or, how about making it into a real work of art?  Advances in print technology now give us the freedom to be truly creative with our old photos and opens up whole new possibilities for display and enjoyment.

You can print on large wood panels which allows the grain to show through. Or for an "industrial, shabby chic or bohemian look", some folks have their image made into "engineer prints" - like the large, lightweight prints used by architects.  The New York Times has gathered a number of these cutting edge ideas into a very helpful article: "Turning Your Photos into Art".
Sounds like fun right? Give Jane a call today!
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Is Any Torn Photo Ever Beyond Repair?

7/25/2017

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It would be funny if it wasn't often tragic: the family dog chews the photo; a vindictive lover tears (or scissors) up their couple photos only to reunite with their partner; a disaffected child feels unloved so rips up a photo of himself.  Or, the photo was just too much loved and wore out! We have seen (and fixed) all these situations. 

So what is the prognosis for a torn photo?  Can every torn photo be convincingly repaired and what is involved? What can you do if there are missing pieces? Are any images beyond repair?

Assessing a ripped photo: The 5 key questions

When we get a photo which has been ripped apart there are five questions that we ask and that will determine how much time will be involved in the fix. First, do we have all the pieces? If the missing piece is from a vital area (the eyes, the nose or the mouth, for example) then we ask a second question: Can we use the intact information in the photo to help us? For example, one damaged eye can often be repaired by using the other eye.
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If the missing piece is major and involves the whole of the subject's head or another vital body part then we get to the third question: Is there another photo of the same person taken at about the same time. 

If there is another photo of the affected person, then there is a good chance that we can use it to supply the missing information and make a perfect repair.
The fourth question we ask is: what else needs to be done? 

Seldom is the the tear the only problem.  Often there are other issues such as fixing color tone, removing small dust and minor scratches, or most commonly, overcoming earlier repair efforts like the staining and discoloration caused by old adhesive tape. Also common - and easily fixable - is a missing piece from a non-vital part of the photograph.
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Finally, once we have made the repair and carried out other necessary restoration steps, we ask: What is the appropriate paper for the final print? We don't just print everything on high quality gloss paper (although sometimes that is the wisest  choice).  We like to do our best to match the original.  For example, for the 16" x 20" oval portrait of the young lady above we used a cotton based, archive quality, slightly textured matte paper - and it looked totally gorgeous!
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Technical details

So, how do we go about fixing a torn photo? 

We like to scan each piece in high resolution separately. We take care to hold the scanner's color settings constant so that the color tone does not change across the pieces.
We then bring the pieces into Photoshop and carefully trace the outlines of the emulsion, taking care to avoid selecting any of the substrate. We then mask otiose details and arrange each piece on its own layer.  We carefully maneuver each piece into place (using the transform tool as needed) - similar to assembling a jigsaw puzzle.  Once the torn bits are aligned we then clean up the joins with the cloning or healing brush tools. We then attend to the other issues facing the photo - like color tone or dust spots then we prepare and send a "before and after" preview.  Once we have your approval, we make the print and send that along together with a digital copy of the image!

No torn images is beyond repair

Here at PhotoFixRestore, we like to say that no torn or ripped image is beyond repair - but some images may be beyond budget! While we have astonishing photo restoration tools at our disposal, those tools are wielded by meticulous, flesh and blood artists and most repairs just take time to make the restored photo look convincing - as you can see by the samples on this page. To get a fast and free estimate to repair your torn image just contact Jane.
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Can I Get a Restored Photo from a News or Magazine Cutting - or a Yearbook?

3/2/2017

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Sometimes the only image we have of somebody or some thing is a cutting made from a newspaper.  Maybe it's Mom's old wedding announcement and photo; maybe it's a sports shot or a business story in a local paper. In most cases the newspaper company has disappeared or won't return your call!

In our photo repair and photo restoration business, we get a steady stream of news and magazine cuttings to turn into photos.  We also get asked to make a proper photo from school and college year books. Can you make a proper photo from a news cutting? Can it be done well?
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From a distance things look great - up close, you see the dots.

Understanding Halftone

It is helpful to understand that news, magazine and book images are magical.  News images are comprised of black dots and white space.  At a distance they look fine - up close, not so much.  The printing technique is known as "halftone" - which converts grey tones into a series of dots.  The human eye only has limited resolving power and, at a distance, is tricked into seeing these dots as continuous tone. "Halftone" then is a massive misnomer.  There is only one tone: and it is black. The process is very ingenious: For lighter tones the black dots are small and surrounded by a generous amount of white space.  For darker tones, the black dots are bigger and there is hardly any white space - maybe none. The secret is viewing distance - at a proper distance they look just fine.

Improving a Halftone Image

 Converting a halftone to a proper photo is quite straightforward from a photo repair or photo restoration technical point of view.  You carefully blur the overall image (maybe a Gaussian blur, maybe use the "median" filter) then you "sharpen" it - increasing the contrast between the light and dark areas. The art comes in managing the trade-off between keeping the dots apparent and accepting some blur.

Finally you clean up any dots or stray lines and adjust contrast and maybe add some color. We always add a border the same tone and texture as the news or magazine paper stock - as most cuttings are really squashed in there. The real art comes in managing expectations - halftones are very low quality and no amount of Photoshop magic can replace what is no longer there.  (A small face in a larger picture - say a sports photo - might be constituted by only a dozen dots across and only a few more down.)
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Getting a news photo or magazine cutting ready to restore

Some of the hard work in getting a halftone news or magazine cutting or a year book illustration ready to fix can be done when you scan.  Here are five tips:
1. Adjust the scanner setting to "descreen" - this will lessen the impact of the dots. (If the thing asks you for # lines per inch ("lpi") most old newspapers printed at around 85, magazines maybe 133.)
2. Set the resolution to 600 dpi.
3. Place a black backing card behind the cutting on the glass before you scan - this will balance out the effect of any printing on the reverse side of the cutting.
4. If the cutting has folds or creases, align the crease so that it orientates in the same direction as the movement of the scan light - this will normally be from top to bottom and may require you to place the cutting at an odd angle on the glass.
5. If your scanner has a "sharpening" feature - turn it off and make sure you are scanning in "picture" mode - not document mode. Always scan in color even though the clipping is black and white (actually, probably quite yellow).

So yes, you can get a proper photo from a news cutting and if you are careful it won't be too bad at all!
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Saving Water Damaged Photos, Slides and Negatives

1/23/2017

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Photographs, slides and negatives are born in water.  Yet water is their enemy.  Once photos become wet, their gelatin  layer softens and if allowed to dry - in contact with other photos, plastic covers or glass - they become extremely difficult to separate. So what do you do if your photos have become wet for any reason?

Wet Photos Triage

The American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works ("AIC") recommends the following steps for water-affected photos (NOT home printed or professional inkjet photos):
  • Separate wet photos from frames. If photographs are wet within the frame, unframe carefully watching for any areas that may be stuck to glass or mats and air dry.
  • Air dry in a single layer, image or dull-side up (for negatives) on absorbent or screen materials. Do not sun dry.
  • “Quick-rinse” muddy items in a bucket of cool, cleanest available water. Skip rinsing step if the photograph is lifting or separating: Look closely along edges.
  • Do not touch the surface; do not blot off excess water.
  • If wet and stuck in a stack, gently peel apart at a low angle - only if possible. Do not force separation. Some image loss may occur.
  • Freeze in current housing if quantity exceeds response time (follow AIC Freezing guidelines).
Consult the full AIC article if you intend to follow these procedures yourself: Stabilizing Wet Photographic Materials
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Born in Water

Most photographic prints and negatives were created using water.  Water was used to rinse away the various developing chemicals when the photograph was first printed. In many cases a "wetting agent" was used in the final wash to minimize the formation of water spots on the image. After that, the prints were carefully dried.

Modern professional photo papers (from the 1970s onward) were resin (
polyethylene) coated which meant that water could not soak into and swell and distort the paper fibers.

It follows that most (but not all) professionally produced photographs, slides and negatives can become soaked in water and still survive. There may be "tide" marks and water residue but if the only thing which has happened is exposure to water - then the prognosis is often good.    

Wet photos that have become stuck

Photographs, slides and negatives which are stuck to each other or to another surface should not be allowed to dry.  Once dry, "blocked" photos or negatives are extremely difficult to separate. And, even when successfully separated, there is likely to be some tearing and there might already have been serious or even fatal "leaching" or "bleeding" of color dyes that was not apparent in the stack.

There are a limited number of protocols that certain professional AIC conservationists have developed which hold out some promise of saving at least some or at least part of images which have become stuck due to water damage.  Those protocols require de-ionized water, strict control over pH and temperature, and great care both with the mechanical separation as well as the drying of the prints.

PhotoFixRestore has had some success applying the AIC separation protocols to water damaged photos.  Generally the photo restoration has three phases.  Phase one is assessing the photos and determining the appropriate course of action.  Phase two involves the chemistry, the separation, and the drying.  Phase three demands scanning, our state-of-the-art digital photo restoration techniques and custom printing.
Photos Stuck to Glass
Photos can become stuck to glass through humidity or - worse - through water ingress. It is for this reason that most professional conservationists recommend matting all framed images. Matting keeps the photo surface from coming in contact with the glass.

Generally, once a photo has become stuck to glass it is extremely difficult to separate without some ripping. Luckily, photos stuck to glass can usually be scanned right through the glass (properly cleaned first).

Often we see some color changes where the photo has become stuck. And those issues along with any other problems like fading, tears (sometimes the frame has been dropped and we have an image stuck to broken glass), color shifts or other issues can be dealt with like any other photo repair or restoration.

Water damage to photos due to storms, broken pipes, inadequate window or door flashing, garage or basement flooding, storage in high humidity environments, or just accidental human spillage, can be very serious. But if the problem is addressed while the images are still wet and if using the AIC recommendations then there is a strong likelihood that many if not all the images will be saved. Although, there may still be a need for some remedial photo restoration work.  Once photos or negatives have become stuck in a block then specialized separation protocols are called for. PhotoFixRestore has had some experience applying these protocols and would be more than happy to discuss their applicability on a no-obligation basis.
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