There are four categories of photographic restoration that your photograph may fall under.  Basic, Moderate, Heavy, and Custom.   Most of the restoration that is sent to us falls under the first category, basic restoration. Please read the following descriptions, and if unsure of your category,  send us an e-mail .

Every job received is professionally scanned, color and exposure adjusted if necessary, and cleared of any minor spots or flaws before any restoration work is performed.

Basic

Basic restoration includeds the above mentioned standard treatment plus minor restoration or manipulation work in non essential, non facial areas, and damage that does not exceed 10% of the photo area.. This would involve eliminating minor scratches, cracks, spots, simple red-eye, or dates on images.

Simple restoration or faded color, with the underlying color and detail still present, falls under the Basic category.  More complicated color restoration, for badly discolored and faded images, would fall under the Colorization category detailed later.

Moderate

Moderate restoration includes the above mentioned standard treatment plus small repairs to more highly detailed parts of the image.  Moderate repair problems would typically include small tears, creases, stains, scratches, or multiple red-eye.

Removing one subject (or two if they overlap as in a hug or one person standing behind or beside the other) from a scene and placing them in one of our own neutral backgrounds would be considered a moderate job. The difficulty of the work is multiplied by the number of separate subjects needing work.

Damage to complex facial features and other detailed areas of human subjects should not be considered Moderate. 

Heavy

Moderate restoration includes the above mentioned standard treatment plus restoration of major cracks along detail areas, major sections are faded, stained or missing. Typically photos damaged by fire or water fall in this category. Also old photos with visible "honeycomb" based paper fall under  this category.

Custom

The custom levels of restoration are the most difficult to quote.  Custom work would involve background changes, replacement of missing areas of the image, repair of large cracks, creases and stains, removal or addition of persons, pets or objects and divided into 4 primary categories: C1, C2, C3, C4, and a Custom Plus class reserved for badly damaged photos requiring the high level skills of both a retoucher and an artist.

To judge whether an image requires a Custom level restoration bear in mind that human subjects are more difficult to repair than simple scenery or backgrounds: especially if damage has occurred on a subject’s face or any other detailed part of the subject’s anatomy. Again, the more subjects that require work the higher the level of difficulty.  

For a custom quote please send a Polaroid photo or photocopy to us.  For a quick quote use our upload server to upload a photo for inspection.

Colorization

When we say colorize, we mean colorize.  Not sepia toning or global hues.  Our colorization process requires separate channeling of all features of the picture.  Even the iris of the eye is selected in a separate channel from the eye itself.  This is one reason colorization, in all instances, is less expensive when restoration takes place.  During the restoration process channels have been selected and stored therefore re-channeling is not required during the colorization process.

Colorization falls under the Custom Category. On a plain background, Colorization of one simple subject comes under the C1 category. Each additional subject increases the custom level by 1, therefore three subjects on a plain background would be a level C3. For more complicated backgrounds or groupings, please request a Custom quote by mailing in a photocopy of the image.

When sending in Colorization requests, please remember to include what color is desired for skin, hair, eyes, clothing, background, etc. When dealing with hand colored original images the image will be returned in black & white.

Special Effects

Several special effects are available.  With your choosen effect you will be offered three proofs at different levels of effect to choose from.  See examples of our more popular effects here.