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[OM] Re: Old cameras, photos and restoration [was which one ?]

Subject: [OM] Re: Old cameras, photos and restoration [was which one ?]
From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:05:47 -0400
This is the photo that had all the cracks.  The inset shows what the 
original looked like.  <http://www.chucknorcutt.com/restoration.php>

Aunt Annie's wedding dinner photo really is amazing on many levels. 
There is no way the DOF could be so great on a large format camera 
unless the camera was capable of tilt or swing.  Also, given the small 
apertures of a large camera, the slow speed of film of the day and no 
apparent subject motion I would have to assume that flash was used. 
However, I can't find much indication of that in the shadows although 
there certainly is some (see, especially, the lower left corner). 
Another amazing point is that I can't find anyone blinking.  I can find 
a few women not looking at the camera who may have their eyes closed but 
no one looking at the camera whose eyes are not open.  Makes me wish I 
could talk to that photographer.

Chuck Norcutt


Moose wrote:
> Chuck Norcutt wrote:
>> ...
>> As to dealing with multitudes of scratches I would suggest reading Ctein in 
>> his "Digital Restoration From Start to Finish".  Chapter 8 of the book has 
>> almost 25 pages of detailed methods of efficiently dealing with 
>> scratches.  I haven't had any real need for the techniques there since I 
>> bought the book but I wish I'd had it for the last serious piece of 
>> restoration work I did. 
> I've got some old photos that I mean to restore one of these days, so 
> it's good to have a strong recommendation for a reference source for 
> technique.
>> It was an 8x10 glossy photo from the late 40's or early 50's which had been 
>> rolled into a tight curl. That introduced what I think must have been 
>> thousands of tiny cracks in the emulsion... plus some not so tiny ones where 
>> chunks of the emulsion were falling off.
> I recently dealt with a similar situation, but not as bad. Carol Anne's 
> Aunt Annie is a wonderful old lady whom we visit whenever in NY. She has 
> this really amazing photo from her wedding dinner. It's technically 
> amazing for the DOF and sharpness right out to the corners. It's an 
> amazing image because of the great wealth of characters captured having 
> a great time in Brooklyn shortly after the war. I can stare at the 
> details for a long time. 
> <http://galleries.moosemystic.net/MooseFoto/index.php?gallery=Miscellaneous&image=_MG_3214-17bii.jpg>
> 
> Although I had seen it before, and wanted to copy/restore it, there was 
> no way it was leaving the house, let alone traveling to Calif. So last 
> year I went prepared. I ended up with tripod on Annie's kitchen table 
> after lunch, books on the corners of the print, with 5D and 90mm macro 
> lens. I took several shots, and ended up combining two covering the full 
> height and part of the width each. A full pixel detail is here. 
> <http://galleries.moosemystic.net/MooseFoto/index.php?gallery=Miscellaneous&image=_MG_3214-17bfp1ii.jpg>
> 
> I had wondered what kind of camera was used. I think my question has 
> been answered by a link Andrew posted.
> 
> Andrew Fildes wrote:
>> ... Does the Folmer and Schwing swing, I wondered - doesn't look like it. So 
>> I found this - http://www.clickondavid.com/folmerschwing2.html
>> ...
> I didn't know about these "banquet" cameras. Wiiide format HD isn't new 
> at all. Looks to me like one was still in use in 1947.
>>   I finally finished the work to my own satisfaction but it took me about 
>> three months of off and on again part time work using the clone tool... the 
>> only method I knew at the time.  
> My project wasn't nearly so bad. The print had been rolled up tight in a 
> tube, but the cracking wasn't all that bad. Perhaps the semi-matte 
> finish was tougher, or storage had been more felicitous.
> 
> Moose
> 
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