Physical (not digital) Solutions to Restoring

[Matilda]

I have found the best solution to a sticky residue on pics & even some unidentifiable marks is eucalyptus oil applied gently with cotton wool, be careful not to rub very hard as you could remove the top layer of the photo. Leave the photo out for a few minutes to evaporate the last of the oil & if the eucalyptus oil doesn't work you can buy "Scotch 700 adhesive cleaner and solvent" also works beautifully.

[Tony W]

First rule prior to attempting any cleaning is to make the best copy you can. This is your fallback position should your cleaning attempts damage the photograph, which is highly likely depending on age and condition of the original if incorrect cleaning solutions used.

Personally I would not be too happy about using oils or solvents. While they could well remove the stain/residue there is a danger that the emulsion could be affected by their actions. This may not be immediately apparent but could result in emulsion breaking down or worse stains appearing over time. I have even used lemon/orange juice (from the fruit direct!) to remove glue stains, but only on something I was prepared to discard. Of course if you intend to discard the original and rely on the digital copy only then the worry of this occurring is less important.

One of the safer products designed specifically for photographic emulsion cleaning is PEC-12 INFO HERE. I would try this first in preference to other methods.

[csuebele]

Not sure if this fits here, as it's not a way to fix a damaged image, but with images that have silvering, I use cross polarization (polarized filter on the lights and over the lens) when copying the photo - no digital retouching here. Here's a sample.

[Tony W]

That is a very nice example csuebele. I have not used this technique since copying art work years ago. I had forgotten how effective it can be.

Although only small size here and difficult to judge the dark detail in the lower part of the image is fantastic

[csuebele]

Thanks, Tony. The exposure can be increased to get the detail in the dark areas, providing it's there in the first place, but the cross polarizer pretty much eliminate the silvering problem. It also works very well with tintypes in reducing unwanted glare.

[Kraellin]

that's brilliant, csuebele. thanks for that one

[Gramurarts]

As there seems to be interest in the old ways of restoring photographs here is my experience.
I have been doing photo restorations for museums since the early 70's. In the early days the copy negative was the most important part of the restoration. We would make copies on either 4X5 or 8X10 negatives, depending on the size of the final print, or the value of the subject matter. There were many different films we could choose from and that would depend on the condition of the original print. Also the contrast was controlled through development. Shorter exposure times and longer development for more contrast. Filters on the lens were used to remove stains from the original. There would be an initial negative taken and if the photograph was in physically good condition the original would be rewashed to remove any dirt, then the work negative would be taken. It would be cleaned up with spotting dyes or etching out areas on the negative. After that a work print was made. It would go to the retouch artists who would mainly use dyes and spotting brushes to cleanup the image. Occasionally they would be airbrushed with dyes, to fill in areas that were missing. These were all of historical value and we would be responsible to just bring it back to as close as possible to the original. From a single glass plate we could make an 7' by usually 10' print Yes we also restored from many glass negatives, but that is another story. Hope you find that interesting.

[nancywilliams]

If condition of damaged photo is just like the surface may peel away and unable to clean , this happend if the pic was wet for a long time., so how to work on it.

[Kraellin]

thanks, gramurarts! very interesting info and welcome to RP! feel free to post any more data like that in here.