Can panorama images be restored

Can a panorama photo be restored? Photographers have been taking Panoramas for years, school photos and groups of large people were often shot in panorama, army, navy, military groups and schools. The longest so far I have restored is 53 inches wide!, 7 inches short of the widest print I can have made. The subject was the 20 windmills of Kinderdijk – Kinderdyke in Holland. 20 at the time this photo was taken, I am told there are still 19 even today. The photographer had shot the scene on wide format film, at a guess on 6cm roll film and used a rotating camera to turn the film and the camera head at the same time to expose a length of film long enough to produce a photo 53 x 10 inches long. Alas, it was left outside in the rain in the frame and stuck to the glass and had to be scraped off in order to be scanned. After intense restoration and at 47 Million pixels it was reprinted on high-quality archive inkjet paper. I am sorry but at present I have not had permission to display the photo.

Close up detail of 53-inch panorama

Typical damage right across the whole panorama.

Right side close up detail of 53-inch panorama

The above is a small section from the far right-hand side of the panorama showing just how detailed it is!

Unrestored Panorama

Panorama after restoration

More often photos of regiments, war photos, pupils in the entire school were photographed in this manner. Normally this type of photo is stored rolled up and in the loft. Moisture in the air and the constant heat and cold will have made the paper brittle, so when it is unrolled it may crack. Be careful it may break up. Should you decide to get it restored then it will have to be unrolled to be scanned. If you are posting it please put the rolled photo into a piece of large diameter tube, a carpet roll is best, or roll loosely and put in a cardboard box, padded out with tissue paper. A reunion of old army fellows or royal navy chums often calls for the photos to be pulled out from storage but be prepared for some damage to be evident but do not fear as they can be restored. If there are many faces in the image, perhaps as many as 500 or more and the damage runs through the faces then the image can take some time and money to restore. If complete faces are missing and fully restored photo is required then the only way to fill in the gaps is with another face.

Yes Panorama images can be restored

Post them rolled up in a carpet tube

They will cost much more than a normal 10×8 to restore

They will be re reprinted on archive quality paper with archive inks up to 60 inches wide

For more on scanning and stitching large images see scanning and stitching large images blog post and how to unroll rolled up photos

I hope this helps, thanks for reading

Neil

Summary

Article Name

Can a panorama photo be restored

Description

Long photos or panoramas often suffer damage and can be restored. School photos with many faces, landscapes or industrial scenes all can be repaired.

Neil Rhodes

Image-restore.co.uk

Image-Restore.co.uk

https://www.image-restore.co.uk/new/wp-content/uploads/image-restore_logo_notagline.png

7 Comments

peter paul klapwijk on 14th December 2015 at 9:38 am

Interesting blog. You talk of 17 windmills of Kinderdijk. There are 19 windmills still here. The picture you restored is one of an age when there was still 20 windmills. We would be very happy to have this image in our library.
Kind regards,
Peter Paul Klapwijk
miller, Kinderdijk

Neil Rhodes on 14th December 2015 at 9:43 am

Thank you for the useful information i will update my blog and sen you an email to discuss. All the best
Reply

Angela Poustie (Mrs) on 22nd May 2013 at 12:03 pm

I have a panoramic old school photo from 1954. We would like it copied and improved. About 4 copies. Size approx 36 inches by 6 inches. It is rolled.
Please could you tell me if you can do this work and the approximate cost.
It is black and white.

Neil Rhodes on 23rd May 2013 at 11:52 am

I have sent you an email replay, thank you for getting in contact.

Kind Regards

Neil
Reply

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Paweł Dębosz on 14th March 2012 at 10:18 pm

Very interesting panorama blog! I really like it!

Heidy Pawley on 1st September 2010 at 11:53 am

Hey Some good interesting content on here. Nice work.