It is quite frequent that Restoration of panorama school photos takes place here at photo restoration HQ. They present many restoration challenges and many different types of damage.
I came across this image the other day. I found it rolled up and not wanting to unroll that easily. This is an excellent candidate for the restoration of panorama school photos
An old rolled school panorama
It is an old school photo from Grosvenor High School, Shaftesbury. Being rolled up for long periods of time causes them to stay in the rolled position and encouraging them to unroll is tricky. Luckily this one was not too stiff and could be scanned. The image had already cracked in four or five places and needed pressing down on the scanner to ensure there were not too many shadows from the scanning light.
Scanning.
To scan the whole image I had to make more than one scan. You can read in the post how to scan images larger than your scanner.
You can see the raised parts catching the scanning light in the image below. The scanner has caught the particles of silver within the image and they act as tiny mirrors reflecting back the light. On the other side of the peak it is slightly darker, or in shadow. This can be avoided if the image is scanned at right angles to the scanning light.
Dips and rises in the photo reflect the scanning light
The issues that needed fixing were numerous. A large chunk of detail missing in the rugs and grass needed replacing. The troughs and rises or creases where the image had cracked needed fixing. The image also had strange russet coloured blotches of light water damage in two places. A general image wide cleanup was also needed.
My work flow was as follows.
- Create a white background
- Cut and place text and image onto separate layers
- Convert to black and white, adjust tones and detail levels
- Restore all cracks
- Fix all faded areas including super bright areas
- Restore all marks and dust
- Fix missing area
An old photo of Grosvenor High School, Shaftesbury, restored.
You can see a much larger image by clicking on the image below.
For large photo click small image.
As images go this was in quite good condition. Those with more cracks and more damage to facial features would have taken much longer. When complete the final image took 3 hours.
