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By Thomas Murray


Many people will have collections of photographs in their homes. Many of these will be old family pictures whose condition has deteriorated over the years or been accidentally damaged. There are companies who specialize in photo restoration and they will bring your pictures back to life and in some cases they will be better than the originals.

There are a couple of places to start when you are looking for a company to restore your old photographs. Specialists can be found in some neighborhoods and they will be able to do the work for you. The other option is to use an online restoration firm and send your pictures to them to be fixed.

After taking you old pictures into a store or sending them away for restoration the company will look through the photos to see what needs doing. They will then contact you and explain what needs to be done and give you a price for the job. The cost will depend on what has to be done to repair the pictures and how many there are. You may be able to negotiate a discount for the work if you are submitting a lot of photos.

Many problems or faults can be fixed by the trained technicians that work for restoration companies and your pictures returned to as good as new. If a photo has faded in the sun it can be bought back to life and the colors restored and improved. Ripped photographs, creases and pit marks can also be invisibly repaired.

Many other services are offered by these companies and one of the most popular is to turn black and white photographs into color prints. Specialist software and printers are used to transform these old pictures into color and all of the detail will be enhanced. The original pictures will still be as they were and will be sent back to you when the work is completed.

When the restoration work has been carried out the company will send you proof copies of the new images for you to look at. When you are happy they can be printed or stored as digital copies on discs, flash drives or other media. Digital copies are always useful even if you have hard copies as they can be used to make future copies. Most of the firms who do restoration work will retain copies of your images and keep the on file in case you need to order more.

If you are sending your pictures to a firm by courier it is essential to have them insured against loss or damage while they are in transit. Also make sure they are well protected when you package them for mailing. Any special instructions for the technicians should be sent with the pictures or emailed to the company before the work commences.

When your new prints arrive it is essential that they are stored correctly in albums or boxed properly for storage. Prints should be kept out of direct sunlight and away from any damp areas such as attics and basements. If your images are digital you should make copies of these and store them on a flash drive or other external device in case you need to retrieve them in the future.




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