No Risk Photograph Restoration -
Free Advice Call 01825 740986

Archive for editing

160 Photographs. One Story. – Because sometimes one photo isn’t enough

Recently, we worked with a customer, James, on something really special.

He wanted to celebrate 50 years of family life – not with just one or two framed photographs, but by bringing all of those memories together.

So together, we created three bespoke photo montages, designed to sit side by side as floating frame canvas prints – telling the story of his family in chronological order, from the earliest moments through to today.

Photographs Forever

Photographs Forever

Each montage was made up of dozens of individual photographs – over 160 in total – carefully enhanced and arranged to flow naturally from one moment to the next.

That really is the beauty of a photo montage. Instead of choosing just one image to display, you can include everything – the big milestones, the small moments, the forgotten snapshots – all brought together into one piece.

It becomes something you don’t just glance at, but something you live with.

You’ll often find that each time you look at it, a different photograph catches your eye – a memory you hadn’t noticed before.

photographs Forever

Photographs Forever

James shared this after receiving his finished pieces: 
 
Yet again we have turned to Photographs Forever to help create a montage of 160 images… It felt as if a friend guided us through the whole process resulting in a unique product that we are so pleased to have mounted on our wall. I can’t see us going anywhere else.

In this case, James came to us with a very clear vision, and we worked closely with him to bring that to life. But that’s not always necessary. Some customers know exactly what they want – others simply have a collection of photographs and aren’t sure where to start.

Rather than being physically assembled, what we create is a single, seamless digital image, designed to give the appearance of photographs being carefully placed together in a classic montage style.

The benefit of this approach is that the finished piece is produced as one continuous print, meaning it won’t deteriorate over time in the way traditional cut-and-stick montages often can, where individual prints may fade at different rates or begin to lift and age

We’re always happy to guide you, suggest layouts, and help shape something that feels right for you.

If you’ve ever felt that one photograph isn’t enough to tell the story… a montage might be exactly what you’re looking for.

Re-Enacted Scene From Years Gone By

Photograph Colourisation Example

Initially, Keith asked us to restore the picture of him and his sister in Trafalgar Square when they were children. A few months later he came back to us with a re-enacted picture of the two of them taken recently that they wanted to gift to their mum, and we helped to get it looking as close to the original as possible.

 

Grenadier Guards Photo Saved!

At some point someone obviously thought it would be a good idea to give some of these characters beards and glasses.

That’s where we were able to be helpful to a very grateful customer.

Here’s the before and after

What’s YOUR Most Important, Irreplaceable Possession?

Boris-web

2020 has been a very unusual year in so many ways for all of us. One factor that has occurred to many of us is the importance of the family and close relationships as we have had time to reflect.

I will be moving to a smaller house soon and, as I have to get rid of quite a lot of ‘stuff’,  it has occurred to me that when I look around the house to decide what’s precious, there really is very little that I couldn’t live without. Except photographs. Photographs are one of the very few things that can’t be replaced and they are therefore possibly our most important and valuable possession.

Because we have all had more time on our hands than usual, photograph collections that have been overlooked for years have finally been finding the light of day and getting them scanned and either optimised or fully restored has enabled these very special photographs to be enjoyed so much more. 

So, if you haven’t checked out your own photograph collection yet, there is no better time than the cold dark winter months. Apart from anything else, it is actually a very enjoyable exercise. So make that diary note to do it. You’ll be glad you did. 

 

 

 

 

Top Quality Framing For Your Restored Photograph

There has been a very big increase in the number of photographs I have received because going through the masses of old family photographs is a job that is so often put off by many people due to lack of time and for these past few months have provided  the time and the environment to tackle the task. It’s always much more fun than people expect. And the rewards are huge.

I am now very excited to be able to offer you a top quality bespoke framing service. This means I can offer custom size prints, mounts and frames to show off your restored photographs in the best way possible so they can receive the attention and admiration they deserve.

The most popular moulding is the solid wood satin black or mahogany with single or double mounts.

Satin Black Frame

Satin Black Frame

 

Mahogany frame

Mahogany frame

.

I can also provide multi aperture frames – the one below is 20in x 16in with two landscape format 8in x 6in prints and two portrait format 5in x 7in prints. There are several multi aperture options available and the frames can be any size you choose. Heavier mouldings are available for larger sizes.

Quad-mount-frame-5-650

 

I can even show you what your photograph will look like before you order including all the relevant dimensions. This is particularly useful if you want a specific frame size to fit a specific space in your house.

.

A representation of your own photo with dimensions added

A representation of your own photo with dimensions added

Further details are available here

Badly Damaged Photograph Restored

This photograph was in a really bad state as you can see below.

Ann M was very happy with the result. She told me “My Mum’s picture has pride of place on the mantelpiece and is a great talking point for everyone who comes in!  My brother and sisters back in Ireland have been astounded and delighted with the copies I sent them. It has given us all so much happiness.”

 AM_01R1

Combine Two Separate Photographs Into One

I was provided with two poor quality scans of cut-out damaged photographs that were not to scale with each other and asked to combine them and add a fitting background.

Here’s the result.

PA_01R1

Restoration of Photo of Deteriorating Oil Painting

JG-comp

My customer John G had a photograph he had taken of an old oil painting of an early member of his family (centre photo above). The photograph he gave me was not very good quality itself and you can see by the close up of the face on the left that the surface of the painting was also very cracked and damaged.
On the right is the same section after I had digitally restored it.

Three Brothers Together at Last in One Photograph

My customer John G wanted to get his grandfather with his two brothers together in a single photograph with a Scottish background.

Here are the three individual photographs and below the final result

JGordon-WEB

 

JGordon-1-WEB

Here’s the review John left for me on Yell.com

“Please accept my wonderful thanks for the restored colour job you did to the photo of my late grandfather and his two brothers.
You have done a very professional and absolutely stunning job. You are very talented at what you do.” John G

Combining Photos to Create a New Photograph

My customer had two photographs of the subject in different uniforms, taken by flash with the camera set to the wrong shutter speed so half of each photo was black.
 
I removed just the subject from each photo, restored the images and then replaced the background in order for the finished article to look more suitable.
 M-McC-web