Who is the best for breathing life into a snap shot?

[lola_gunch]

I have a snap shot that is very precious to me, more so than anything I own from my perspective and I would like

to send it to the best professional company there is to breath life back into it.

I am not interested in any offers of the best job at a great price in any way.

I just want to know what company do the professionals go to when everything is on the line relative to

quality? Thats it!

[Jerry_]

You, sort of, are asking for one to provide the "place" that is going to put the broken egg back together.

 

 

 

Without knowing the current condition of the snap shot, i.e., what lens, camera, film (?) was used. If the camera used was a drop-off and develop one, with a plastic lens....chances are good not much can be done in regards to 'breathing life' back into your image.

[Matt Laur]

Do you mean you have a hardcopy print that needs physical repair, or that you've got an image that's sentimentally important, but you'd like it contemporized a bit, visually, or ... ?

[annealmasy]

Without knowing any details, my first thought is for you to find a local pro photo lab -- all major cities have them; check the

yellow pages; you do not need to be a pro to walk in and use their services -- and ask them to create a drum scan of the

print. A good high-resolution scan may cost around $75, but will give you the digital version you need in order to pursue

this any further. The lab itself may offer some toning services -- retouching and repairing the image, as well as adjusting

color and contrast as much as possible. If not, get some recommendations from the lab for a local digital photographer or

retoucher. Pro labs know everyone in the biz -- especially your local folks. If this image is important to you, I'd avoid

sending it by mail to anyone you don't know. Once you have a well-toned digital file, you can make prints to your heart's

content. :) Good luck! :)

[hjoseph7]

Sometimes Pro labs that do allot of printing, do a terrible job when it comes to retouching. Maybe because they don't have the time. I would send it to a professional retoucher unless your lab has one available on hand.

[tholte]

"I am not interested in any offers of the best job at a great price in any way. I just want to know what company do the professionals go to when everything is on the line relative to quality? Thats it!" If you really mean that, send it to this guy, he is the best of the best: Pascal Dangin at the "Box".

[rjjackson]

hi lola,

 

i think people are suggesting that there are two routes you could take. on th one hand, you could acquire a digital copy of the film which will last as long as your computer lasts. for this you need two services, someone who can make an excellent scan (anne's suggestion for drum scan is the best option) and second you need someone skilled with photoshop to to the other half of the breathing.

 

the other option is for someone to make you a fine handprint. i am not sure the best handprinting service will always be found at the same lab with th best drum/photoshop skills. i think you should consider more carefully what result you are after and then seek out the best person working in that field as close to you as as possible so that you can visit them and talk over what your expectations are. i think if you want a fine hand print you might consider looking for photographers in your area who make hand prints for galleries. this way the new life being breathed into the shot will be the vision of an established artist. just a thought.

 

best -- rj

[robbie_robertson]

Lola, I see you've been a member for a few months, and that you have a Canon P&S? If you haven't yet been convinced to buy Adobe Photoshop (and I suggest Elements version 6 would suit your needs), note it is mentioned in thousands of posts and seems to be the predominate post processing tool used by photo.net members:

If you use a flat bed scanner, make a reasonably high resolution TIFF image (or if you don't a friend or lab can scan it for you), and use the power of PS to clean up the image, you'll be very happy with the results. I've removed wrinkles, tears, coffee stains and a huge number of flaws from old prints dating back to the early 20th century. You will probably need good post processing software as you progress anyway, and can do a more meticulous job of rescuing old photographs than a lab will do because of your personal stake in the image. My two cents...

[lola_gunch]

I said I had a snap shot, that means a picture.

[phule]

[[i said I had a snap shot, that means a picture.]]

 

You say this as if you think it provides clarity.

[markci]

<i>I said I had a snap shot, that means a picture.</i>

<p>

Neither of which provides any real information. And getting snippy while asking other people to help you is a class act all the way.