PHOTO RESTORATION NO CURE NO PAY!

ED KUIPERS DIGITAL PHOTO RESTORATION

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Examples: color and contrast


Before treatment
 After treatment
 Time used and pricing


This treatment didn't cost more then 15 minutes and the result is (in my humble opinion, stunning). Especially if you honor the fact that I received this picture as an 3 x 5 inch picture (it depicts a little village in the south of France in the early 80th) and was asked wether I could restore the original colors.

Scanning was done using my trusted Epson Perfection 750 Pro ® which was addressed by the high end scanning software SilverFast ®. SilverFast ® makes it possible to perform extensive color corrections (up to the individual color) before the picture is finally scanned. During the final scan all color corrections are performed which means that I do not have to abuse the histogram of the picture in and do not run the risk of posterisation (which is always present when 8-bit software is used). In my work flow 8 bit is only used when I package a file for final delivery but for correcting color I always use 16 bit (or 48 bit is you count the Red, Green and Blue channel). If you color correct a photo using 8 bit software (like Photoshop Elements) you always run the risk of "chopping up your histogram which results in colors missing in the final image.

If I have you give me a postcard size photo and you do not need to be able to enlarge it to lets say A4, then I can scan at 300 dpi and the price drops to € 9.00 including VAT.


As I already stated on the main page, I have no idea what happened to this poor picture. But after an extensive reconstruction using masking techniques and channel separations as well as some old fashioned brushwork, this picture looks a lot better. In the process I removed a few innocent bystanders and the end result looks a lot more pleasing to the eye. Now this is picture that defines the border of what is physically and technically possible. It is a puzzle that has to be individually solved. It involves a lot of guess work and a lot of retracing once steps backward in order to go forward again. You don't know what the end result will be and what you will find in the depth of this picture and that is were restoring becomes an applied art. This took 7 hours and yes that is not cheap. But the result to me justified the time spend on it and to the customer it justified the € 252,00 including VAT he spend on it. The trick is that I work No Cure No Pay so if he wasn't satisfied he could have walked away. He didn't


And sometimes you can correct photographic errors as well. Like this Asian scene at a Hindu shine in Sri Lanka. Underexposed and somewhat faded. The colors on the building look better than when the picture arrived at the doorstep of the tourist who had just spend an arm and a leg on a once in a lifetime holiday. And this picture was taken using a 110 pocket Instamatic, yes even those pictures can be restored. And the price was a measly € 9,00.