Photo Burnt to glass

[hicpics]

Hey,

I've got some photo's that were burned in a fire, and apparently one of them melted to the glass. The glass shattered leaving fragments attached to it. I've looked around the forums but I can only find one's that got stuck due to humidity. I've tried soaking it in water for a day and that doesn't seem to help. The image underneath has only darkened a bit.

Also on the others the emulsion is peeling off due to the paper shrinking in the fire. Is there anything that can be done to fix those.

I've gone around to professionals, but the price is out of my range, and I've got experience with photoshop.

[Tony W]

Re: Photo Burnt to glass

First thing that you should do is to make sure you copy the photographs as they are now including the attached glass fragments. This is so important as you need to have a fall back position should your recovery attempts go wrong.

By the sound of things the emulsion has actually melted and adhered to the glass. By trying to remove the glass after soaking it is quite possible that all you will succeed in doing is removing the print backing paper and the emulsion will pull away still attached to the glass fragments.

If the photograph has now dried out I would copy it either by scanning or using a camera - yes you will have a lot of retouching to do for both damaged areas and hiding the glass.

If the photograph is still wet you can leave it in the water bath and attempt to copy under water which may help to disguise the glass to print transition.

Without seeing your other images it is not possible to give a definitive answer other than to say that IMO it is unlikely that you can do anything to fix the damage base and save the original.

Back to the first point - Make sure you copy the photographs prior to attempting to 'fix'

[hicpics]

Re: Photo Burnt to glass

Alright thank you. Since it is melted to the glass would it be possible to heat it up to the point the emulsion melts away from the glass.

[Tony W]

Re: Photo Burnt to glass

It may be possible to heat up with either a hairdryer or a hot air gun (with great caution!), however if it is truly melted and stuck to the glass then the amount of heat required may actually damage the emulsion more before/if it comes away at all.

Once again therefore I urge you to make the best back up copy you can prior to trying any method of removal.