I'm now going over some of the photos that I rescued from the flood
waters recently. Some have sustained some minor damage. Most probably
won't get fixed but I decided to try fixing any problems on the six
8x10s from my friends' wedding album. Since these were heavy weight B&W
matte prints they fared very well. The dreaded waxed paper simply fell
off the surface without leaving any residue. However, the plastic
sleeves they were in (which had to be cut open) did pull some speckles
of emulsion off here and there but it's all easily repairable with the
clone tool
But one print in particular is causing me some frustration. There's
actually very little damage (just some white speckling near the top of
the image which is nothing but the back wall of the church... easy fix).
However, scanning the image in order to effect the repair, causes more
trouble than the original speckling. On the groom's very black tuxedo
the scan shows wispy, wavy light gray bands crossing most of his jacket.
If I examine the original print very closely and hold it at just the
right angle I can see the same phenomenon visually and it's due to the
print not being perfectly flat. But the scan itself makes it 10 times
more visible than it actually is and, of course, you don't have to hold
it "just so" in order to see it.
I've tried re-dampening and pressing the print again to get it flatter.
I've tried adding weight (lots of books) to press it flat. Nothing
seems to help. No matter what I do, what I can just barely see with my
eye stands out like a sore thumb in the scan.
I know how to fix it. I discovered that I can make another layer,
increase the contrast until the gray disappears, add a mask to reveal
the original and then paint with white to reveal the darkened area
above. Works OK but is very tedious to blend in properly with the brush.
I've never seen scan behavior like this before. Anyone have an idea
about how to avoid the problem during the scan?
Chuck Norcutt
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