photo on a plate

[Britsdad]

Hiya guys,
Here's a good one for you, a friend just gave me a plate with a photo embedded into it! It's of his sons girlfriends father who died when she was very young, and this is the only photo she's got of him. They are getting married in a couple of weeks and he's asked me if I can get anything from it.
My first question is, has anyone ever seen a photo done like this? and does anyone have any ideas on how to tackle it apart from the usual?
Regards.....John
By the way, I've scanned this, do you think it may be better to photograph it? the plate is slightly translucent, ie. lets some light through it.

[Juergen D]

I would try photographing it. You may get the image better in focus. I played with it briefly and came up with the result below. There is pretty good detail in the face.

Juergen

[Britsdad]

Thanks Juergen,
Yea you got about the same as I have, will take your advise and try a photograph tomorrow.
Thanks again.......John

[Sweetlight]

Hey Brit, http://www.seehere.com/proOverview.d...1-_-3187404514

Here is a site I found for you that actually does this process although I really did not know that it had been done as far back as when your appears to be.
It's hard to see but I don't think the image is actually glazed on or anything like that but more like some sort of silkscreening for lack of a better work. I am also somewhat surprised that it has been done on what appears to me as a very fine piece of china.
Is your friend wanting just a photo or the plate with the photo redone?

Chris

[mistermonday]

Hi John, I would definitely go with a good photo. The plate is small so you should have no trouble getting a rally hi res shot with lots of image data. And because of the relatively small area, you should be able to avoid parallax or other lens perspective distortion.
The color correction should be fairly easy to handle in PS once you get it there.
Regards, Murray

[Neillo]

If the plate is slightly translucent... try putting it on top of a lightbox. The light from underneath will help when photographing it and might help pick out some more detail.

[Britsdad]

Thanks for all the interest,
Chris, I reckon the photo was put on in the early 80's but I don't know how old the plate is, although it doesn't look that old, it does look quite good quality. The actual photo is glazed over, it's as though the photo is under the glaze, but I don't think it is. My friend is wanting the image from the plate adding to another photo he's got! (should be fun )
Murray, "parallax or other lens perspective distortion" blimey they are big words! but I think I get your drift
Neillo, Good idea, although I don't have a lightbox I've no doubt I can get some sort of light through.
Thanks all..........John
I'm wondering, does anyone think the red colour cast is due to the colour of the plate? or just a bad photograph in the first place?

[Chain]

the color cast is partly due to the color of the plate, think of it like a printout on a beige piece of paper. I'm sure it has faded over time as well.