Stu Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Hi all. This is not directly related to Alamy but I am looking for some advice from your vast knowledge base. (Flattery will get you nowhere.) I've just lost my almost proper paid job and thinking about making a bit of money with related work to photography. I live in a seaside community in UK, a retirement enclave of sorts. There might be folks with lots of old photos in other words. Obviously I can do adequate post processing and can mount and frame prints. I'm thinking of offering a photo restoration service in the local area but know almost nothing about scanners. What do I need to look for in a scanner? What would people recommend as a reasonable first scanner for photos and transparencies that would be suitable for this purpose? What other issues should I be thinking of? Any advice or tips on where to start would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Stuart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyMelbourne Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 For basic restoration work any flatbed will do. A cheap all in one printer scanner wiil suffice up to A4 and for some larger shots such as 11x14 upwards I have even photographed the photo with very good results. A word of warning though......don't accept or price a job until you see the photograph in question. It's easy to rebuild most stuff but occasionally you will get a job where the face is missing etc. So, don't promise too much. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 Thanks Andy. That is sound advice. We may have the technology but not everyone can be rebuilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Chriss Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Back in the early 90's my company started doing a lot of this work. At that time via copy neg and hand retouching, we were lucky to have an artist attached to the studio and then later digitally. We advertised in genealogy magazines and managed to get a lot of work, It was not very profitable though but it did help to pay the rent during that recession. As Andy said be very careful about pricing as they can be in a dreadful condition - a few cracks and tears are ok but faces etc are a nightmare. So proceed with caution. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 There is a learning curve with getting the best out of a scanner. I get better results from my old film scanner now than I did when I previously used it; I am always learning. Therefore you will need to build in a development phase - perhaps start with your extended family archive to build examples and a portfolio of successful restoration? BTW, what competition is there around? Some people started offering this sort of service in the early days of digital and there may even be someone in local family history groups doing it for free. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustydingo Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Stu, check out Katrin Eismann's series of videos: http://vimeo.com/tag:Katrin+Eismann dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 Thank you for the replies. Those videos look great. Isn't it incredible how much information still lurks in even the most faded photo. I'd anticipate a learning curve with a scanner and it would be a good time to get to work on a collection of slides and stuff that my Dad left. Looks to me like an interesting area to get into and build on where I am. As long as I'm cautious about what I take on and there is realism about what can be achieved. I was looking at an Epson V370 which comes in at under £100. Thanks again. Stu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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