Detail Photography

Detail Photography Detail Photography – Photo restoration service
Digital files made of old prints, photographs repaired, faded images brought back to life

Detail Photography – Photo restoration service

Do you own treasured photographs and prints?

• Have you lost the negatives and you would either like a new copy or want additional prints for family or friends?
• Would you like folded, ripped or torn photographs copied and repaired, leaving you with an untouched original?
• Are they faded and need to be brought back to life? At Detail Photography w

e will care for your precious photographs and prints then restore them to the best condition possible. Amazing restorations can be achieved given time and attention to detail. Simply send your photos with payment, £6.00 per photo & £3.00 for return postage and packing to:

Detail Photography
23 Corby Road,
Mapperley,
NG3 5HF

Callers strictly by appointment only

Payment by cheque payable to Detail Photography
or Paypal – [email protected]. More details on our website:
www.detailphotography.co.uk

Is it possible to improve poorly taken, old photographs, from times gone past?A question I get asked regularly. Most of ...
30/07/2025

Is it possible to improve poorly taken, old photographs, from times gone past?

A question I get asked regularly. Most of the photographs I get given to work on are special. Special – important, in that they are often the only copy of a particular photograph in existence and the original negative gone or lost It is not uncommon for me to be told that this is the ‘ONLY’ photograph in existence or this family.

Often these photographs are just not good. Often poorly taken by someone who just snaps away rather than carefully working on composition and so on. On top of that there is also the usual time, poor storage and a fair bit of neglect that ‘does-in’ most old photographs.
Did you know that often, I can take an old photograph, digitise it, renovate it and then enlarge the new file to make a bigger photo suitable for framing?
My photograph today shows a before and after.
What do you think?


Photographs may not be copied, published, or stored without express permission of the copyright holder.
©2025 Pete Jenkins @ Detail - Photography – Old photographs fade and get damaged, but they can often be digitised and repaired.

Is it possible to improve poorly taken, old photographs, from times gone past?A question I get asked regularly. Most of ...
19/10/2023

Is it possible to improve poorly taken, old photographs, from times gone past?

A question I get asked regularly. Most of the photographs I get given to work on are special. Special – important, in that they are often the only copy of a particular photograph in existence and the original negative gone or lost It is not uncommon for me to be told that this is the ‘ONLY’ photograph in existence or this family.

Often these photographs are just not good. Often poorly taken by someone who just snaps away rather than carefully working on composition and so on. On top of that there is also the usual time, poor storage and a fair bit of neglect that ‘does-in’ most old photographs.

Did you know that often, I can take an old photograph, digitise it, renovate it and then enlarge the new file to make a bigger photo suitable for framing?

My photograph today shows a before and after.
What do you think?

Photographs may not be copied, published, or stored without express permission of the copyright holder.

©2023 Pete Jenkins @ Detail - Photography – Old photographs fade and get damaged, but they can often be digitised and repaired.

Old photographs fade and get damaged, but usually they can be digitised and repaired, and even enlarged and nicely frame...
16/08/2023

Old photographs fade and get damaged, but usually they can be digitised and repaired, and even enlarged and nicely framed.

As we know back in the days of hand-processing and printing, mNY photographs were actually made rather skilfully.

It is usually time, poor storage and a fair bit of neglect that ‘does-in’ most old photographs.

Today’s photographs were competently taken, processed, and printed but have suffered light damage. At least half a century old, time has not treated it well. There is little physical damage – often prints of this age are scuffed, torn, creased and suffered other ‘use’ marks, however there is a lot of less obvious collateral damage, the most obvious being the fading.

A deep scan to a high resolution will often capture back some of this detail (undetectable by the human eye).

My photographs today show two sets of before and after. I have also included a second ‘after’ print. Some onlookers mistake the browning of the paper for ‘sepia-toning. This is not the case. The originals have suffered aga and light damage of the chemical silver halides.

Back in the days of chemical printing sepia toning (as it was called) was not a colouring of the print, but rather a secondary tertiary chemical process which replaced the silver halide of the original print with a sulphide. The reason for doing this originally was to give the print a longer life as the sulphide compound was less susceptible to light damage. The warmer ‘brown’ tone was simply a pleasing side effect.

What do you think?



Photographs may not be copied, published, or stored without express permission of the copyright holder.

©2023 Pete Jenkins @ Detail - Photography – Old photographs fade and get damaged, but they can often be digitised and repaired.

Old photographs fade and get damaged, but usually they can be digitised and repaired, and even enlarged suitable for fra...
05/07/2023

Old photographs fade and get damaged, but usually they can be digitised and repaired, and even enlarged suitable for framing.

As we know back in the days of hand-processing and printing, most photographs were actually handled rather well.

It is usually time, poor storage and a fair bit of neglect that ‘does-in’ most old photographs

Today’s photographs were competently taken, processed, and printed but have suffered light damage. At least half a century old, time has not treated it well. There is little physical damage – often prints of this age are scuffed, torn, creased and suffered other ‘use’ marks, however there is a lot of less obvious collateral damage, the most obvious being the fading.

A deep scan to a high resolution will often capture back some of this detail (undetectable by the human eye).

My photographs today show two sets of before and after. I have also included a second ‘after’ print. Some onlookers mistake the browning of the paper for ‘sepia-toning. This is not the case. The originals have suffered aga and light damage of the chemical silver halides.

Back in the days of chemical printing sepia toning (as it was called) was not a colouring of the print, but rather a secondary tertiary chemical process which replaced the silver halide of the original print with a sulphide. The reason for doing this originally was to give the print a longer life as the sulphide compound was less susceptible to light damage. The warmer ‘brown’ tone was simply a pleasing side effect.

What do you think?



Photographs may not be copied, published, or stored without express permission of the copyright holder.

©2023 Pete Jenkins @ Detail - Photography – Old photographs fade and get damaged, but they can often be digitised and repaired.

Old photographs fade and get damaged, but they can often be digitised and repaired.Back in the days of hand-processing a...
27/06/2023

Old photographs fade and get damaged, but they can often be digitised and repaired.
Back in the days of hand-processing and printing, most photographs were actually handled rather well.

It is true that there were a few cowboys who did not really know what they were doing, yet did it anyway, and there are always ‘give-it-a-go’ amateurs who never quite ‘got it’, however most of the 100 years plus photographs that I get given to work on, were clearly competently produced. That goes with monochrome photographs in general.
Machine printing however is a different kettle of fish.

I digress.

Today’s photograph is competently taken, processed, and printed but it has suffered light damage. At least half a century old, time has not treated it well. There is little physical damage – often prints of this age are scuffed, torn, creased and suffered other ‘use’ marks, however there is a lot of less obvious collateral damage, the most obvious being the fading.
A deep scan to a high resolution will often capture back some of this detail (undetectable by the human eye).

My photographs today show a set of before and after. I have also included a second ‘after’ print which I have added a sepia tint.

Back in the days of chemical printing sepia toning (as it was called) was not a colouring of the print, but rather a secondary tertiary chemical process which replaced the silver halide of the original print with a sulphide. The reason for doing this originally was to give the print a longer life as the sulphide compound was less susceptible to light damage. The warmer ‘brown’ tone was simply a pleasing side effect.
What do you think?


Photographs may not be copied, published, or stored without express permission of the copyright holder.

©2023 Pete Jenkins @ Detail - Photography – Old photographs fade and get damaged, but they can often be digitised and repaired.

Take a Wedding photo album and fix the problems!Much to my surprise one of the most common requests I get is to take an ...
21/06/2023

Take a Wedding photo album and fix the problems!

Much to my surprise one of the most common requests I get is to take an old wedding album and cure the many faults. Sadly, not everyone who markets themselves as a wedding photographer is actually up to scratch. Very common when so many young couples are after a ‘value’ package, and this was as much the case forty years ago as it is today. If you are only paying £500 for a complete wedding photo package then it may not turn out to be as wonderful as one would like.

Sometimes of course it is simply age that does the damage. It is very common for machine prints of the 1970s and 1980s where speed was valued above quality, to take on a sepia like tone as the machines often did not fix the prints thoroughly or even more common did not wash them adequately. Over time and with exposure to light (even in small does) the prints became less than one would want.

My photographs today show two sets of before and after.
In the first pair the distracting chairs in the background have been removed, and in the second the discolouration of the print has been corrected.

One the individual prints have been repair the album can be created more imaginatively from the new digital originals (if this is required).
What do you think?



Photographs may not be copied, published, or stored without express permission of the copyright holder.
©2020 Pete Jenkins @ Detail - Photography – fixing problems in old wedding albums – yes it can be done!

Take a Family photo album and create memorable wall art!Family photo albums are a wonderful thing yet are often abandone...
13/06/2023

Take a Family photo album and create memorable wall art!

Family photo albums are a wonderful thing yet are often abandoned to boxes in the attic or garage. Lost and forgotten.

However, these old albums can be complete treasure troves, and should be kept to delight and inform, future generations. Beware, benign negligence is not enough, as with all film-based photographs there are many ways the picture or photograph that we see today can be damaged, therefore making any recovery more difficult. Light and chemical damage are common on prints, chemical damage (usually through lack of washing at the processing stage), dust trapped between film and print, often in the enlarger or on the film surface, and of course the ever so common physical damage on the print itself.

The photos I am showing you today came from a wonderful collection of albums going back top before the Great War; however, they were in a sad way. There were lots of snap shots and very ordinary scenic views.

My job was to rescue the albums but at the same time edit and curate them to produce a rich source of family photographs that could form the base of a new family digital archive.

The best were cherry picked and made into wall art

Today’s featured photos show the starting originals and the completed images.
What do you think?



Photographs may not be copied, published, or stored without express permission of the copyright holder.
©2020 Pete Jenkins @ Detail - Photography – Wall art from photoalbums – yes it can be done!

Photographs from contact sheets – yes it can be done!How many times have I started these posts with ‘I had an unusual re...
07/06/2023

Photographs from contact sheets – yes it can be done!

How many times have I started these posts with ‘I had an unusual request’? Can I make viable photographs out of 35mm contact sheets. Well, yes I can. If the original negative is clean and sharp when the contacts were made and then there is every chance that decent photographs can be ‘extracted’ from them

As with all film-based photographs there are many ways the picture or photograph that we see today can be damaged, therefore making any recovery more difficult. Light and chemical damage are common on prints, chemical damage (usually through lack of washing at the processing stage), dust trapped between film and print, often in the enlarger or on the film surface, and of course the ever so common physical damage on the print itself

Today’s featured photos show the starting originals and the completed images.

What do you think?



Photographs may not be copied, published, or stored without express permission of the copyright holder.
©2020 Pete Jenkins @ Detail - Photography Photographs from contact sheets – yes it can be done!

An old photograph in terrible condition, rescued and repaired.I had a slightly unusual request. Initially, it seemed fa...
30/05/2023

An old photograph in terrible condition, rescued and repaired.

I had a slightly unusual request. Initially, it seemed fair enough. I was given an old photograph top work on that had been battered, torn, ripped, exhibited both chemical and light dame and from what was left it was clear that the original was probably not the best quality when it was printed 100+ years ago – a challenge indeed.

The biggest single problem was that the lady of the left of the frame had had her head removed – from the photograph that is. Very difficult to restore a part of an image that isn’t there in the first place!

The client did give me a second photo, in a similar state of repair to act as a source for the lady’s head, and I was asked to use this to repair the first image.

There was another request, and that was to take the father (in uniform) and child from the right-hand side of the image and created a second new photograph from it.

Today’s featured photos show the starting originals and the completed images.

What do you think?



Photographs may not be copied, published, or stored without express permission of the copyright holder.

Revitalising old photographs.Everyone who knows me understands my passion for old photographs. They are part of our his...
17/05/2023

Revitalising old photographs.

Everyone who knows me understands my passion for old photographs. They are part of our history, and in many cases record important events for us as indivduals and our families.

Unfortunately, cheaper machine prints, especially those produced during the latter part of the last century have a tendency to discolour, partly through light damage (yes, extended exposure to sunlight degrades photographic images) and partly due to chemical damage, as early machine prints, in order to produce 'quickly' processed prints did not wash photographs clear of the acidic and alkali chemicals.

Both light and chemical damage tend to make prints turn brown.

Sadly, even the most carefully looked after prints could potentially suffer from these effects.

Fortunately, both light and chemical damage can be relatively easily recified.

Here is one I prepared earlier :-)



https://www.facebook.com/DetailPhotographyNottingham

Address

Nottingham
NG35HF

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+447762202268

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Detail Photography posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Detail Photography:

Shortcuts

Share

Category