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Digital photograph restoration is the practice of restoring the appearance of a digital copy of a physical photograph which has been damaged by natural, man-made, or environmental causes or simply affected by age or neglect. Digital photograph restoration uses a variety of
image editing Image editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they are digital photographs, traditional photo-chemical photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such a ...
techniques to remove visible damage and aging effects from digital copies of physical photographs.
Raster graphics editor A raster graphics editor is a computer program that allows users to create and edit images interactively on the computer screen and save them in one of many raster graphics file formats (also known as bitmap images) such as JPEG, PNG, and GI ...
s are typically used to repair the appearance of the digital images and add to the digital copy to replace torn or missing pieces of the physical photograph. Evidence of dirt, and scratches, and other signs of photographic age are removed from the digital image manually, by painting over them meticulously. Unwanted color casts are removed and the image's contrast or sharpening may be altered in an attempt to restore some of the contrast range or detail that is believed to have been in the original physical image.
Image processing An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...
techniques such as
image enhancement Image editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they are digital photographs, traditional photo-chemical photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such as ...
and
image restoration Image restoration is the operation of taking a corrupt/noisy image and estimating the clean, original image. Corruption may come in many forms such as motion blur, noise and camera mis-focus. Image restoration is performed by reversing the process ...
are also applicable for the purpose of digital photograph restoration.


Background


Agents of deterioration

Photographic material is susceptible to physical, chemical and biological damage caused by physical forces, thieves and vandals, fire, water, pests, pollutants, light, incorrect temperature, incorrect relative humidity, and dissociation (custodial neglect). Traditionally, preservation efforts focused on physical photographs, but preservation of a photograph's digital surrogates has become of equal importance.


Handling practices

Fragile or valuable originals are protected when digital surrogates replace them, and severely damaged photographs that cannot be repaired physically are revitalized when a digital copy is made. Creation of digital surrogates allows originals to be preserved. However, the digitization process itself contributes to the object's wear and tear. It is considered important to ensure the original photograph is minimally damaged by environmental changes or careless handling.


Permissible uses

Digitally scanned or captured images, both unaltered and restored image files are protected under
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
law. Courts agree that by its basic nature digitization involves reproduction—an act exclusively reserved for copyright owners. The ownership of an artwork does not inherently carry with it the rights of reproduction. Images that are digitally reproduced and restored often reflect the intentions of the photographer of the original photograph. It is not recommended that
conservators In certain areas of England, Conservators are statutory bodies which manage areas of countryside for the use of the public. Establishment, Role and Powers Conservators are bodies corporate generally established, and granted their powers, by a ...
change or add additional information based on personal or institutional bias or opinion. Even without copyright permission, museums can digitally copy and restore images for conservation or informational purposes.


Gallery


See also

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Infrared cleaning Infrared cleaning is a technique used by some film scanners and flatbed scanners to reduce or remove the effect of dust and scratches upon the finished scan. It works by collecting an additional infrared channel from the scan at the same position ...
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Media preservation Preservation of documents, pictures, recordings, digital content, etc., is a major aspect of archival science. It is also an important consideration for people who are creating time capsules, family history, historical documents, scrapbooks and fam ...
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Photo manipulation Photograph manipulation involves the transformation or alteration of a photograph using various methods and techniques to achieve desired results. Some photograph manipulations are considered to be skillful artwork, while others are consider ...
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Photograph preservation The conservation and restoration of photographs is the study of the physical care and treatment of photographic materials. It covers both efforts undertaken by photograph conservators, librarians, archivists, and museum curators who manage photogr ...


References


External links

* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage Science of photography Photographic techniques {{photography-stub