Even the most treasured family photograph may fall victim to careless handling, children’s mischievous hands, or pets’ fangs and claws, leaving a photograph turned into shreds with many parts missing.
Having no strength to discard the valuable photograph in the trash and no place to go to have it professionally restored, someone tried to mend the pieces with clear tape. Unfortunately, as it always happens, after some time the tape yellowed and crinkled, the adhesive penetrated the photo emulation layer, leaving ugly marks, and the condition of the photograph became worse than before.
Placed into a manila envelope the pieces that have been set in the closet for many years, slowly deteriorating from exposure to chemicals used to disinfect the area and to prevent the growth of mold and mildew and insect infestation.
When brought to the studio, the pieces of the photograph were carefully cleaned to remove the accumulation of dirt and grime from the surface of the photograph and have the remaining bits of tape removed. pH-neutral archival tape was applied to the reverse side of the photograph to join the pieces together.
Because the tears were too numerous and the missing parts were too large to be retouched using the traditional paint-in techniques, the photograph was scanned at high resolution and digitally retouched, restoring the image to its original appearance.