Fine Art Prints

The old illustration on the left, of the same property as in the previous example, was rendered on an oval surface that was warped in a convex shape. The distortion caused by this warping necessitated subtly transforming the edges of the image to achieve a more natural look for printing on a flat surface. We also eliminated surface blemishes and corrected the colors.

This striking ink illustration dated back to the '70s and had faded badly. With its original tones and colors restored, the battle comes to life. A print of our restoration of this image currently resides at Marine Corps Base at Camp Pendleton.

We restored this early 20th century portrait to its original grandeur, extending the edges for a more complete piece. The enhanced contrast and saturated hues highlight the portrait's luminescent quality.

Even if you don't want your artwork restored or enhanced, or if it doesn't need any work, we'll be glad to print copies for you on high quality photopaper.  Canvas prints are also available.

Copies

Many people want copies of photos that don't require any restoration. However, as in this example, we are able to subtly enhance elements of your image for copies. For example, we often lighten dark areas, correct colors, and knock backgrounds out of focus so as to highlight the subjects.

The customer to whom this old newspaper belonged wanted copies of the clipping pictured on the left. We provided him with an image, pictured right, that consolidates the elements from the original clipping in a visually attractive way — and we significantly enhanced the poor quality, faded photograph.

Some customers desire copies of their images that look exactly the same as the originals. We can do that. With our professional scanners and selections of photopaper, we're sure you will be thrilled with the quality of your prints, even if the image itself is an exact copy of the one you provide us.

From photographs to all kinds of documents, whether they be diplomas, marriage licenses, birth certificates, special announcements, or anything else you'd like to have in multiple copies, we guarantee you'll be thrilled with our results.

Image Manipulation

Often we find ourselves wishing that something about a photograph were different. Maybe a stray a tree branch looks an awful lot like it's coming out of your ear, or your granddad is making an ugly face in an otherwise perfect family portrait. Maybe you wish you could remove a person from a photograph, whether for aesthetic purposes or because of some falling out. Or maybe you wish you could add in a loved one whom you wish had been present for the photographed experience.

Barring a time machine, The Photo Doctor is your best option for making a photo look exactly how you want it to look. Below are some examples on which we performed digital surgery to customers' specifications.

Our job in this example was to remove the young woman. By duplicating and editing existing parts of the given photo, we were able to fill out the background and make the elderly woman truly appear to be by herself on the porch. For a finishing touch, we lightened the image and eradicated small blemishes.

We restored both of the top photos separately before the customer to whom they belonged came in at a later date to request that we combine the two images to make the girls seem as if they were all sitting there in that studio.

To accomplish this, we carefully cut the lone girl out of her image and placed her into the scene.We then cut around the contours of the girls in the foreground so that they appeared to be seated in front of the younger girl.Finally, we added subtle shadows for added depth and realism.

The three women in the lefthand photo had recently lost their sister and possessed no photos of all four sisters together. They asked that we combine one of the few existing photos of their late sister with a photo of the three of them.

The photo photo of their sister was badly discolored, but we were able to adjust its tones and hues to match those of the photo of the three women. We isolated the late sister's outline and added her into the photo, rendering an image that looks as if all four women are seated together on the couch.

The woman in this photo came to us after most of her photographs had been destroyed in a fire. Having no remaining photos of her with her children when they were younger, she provided us with three surviving photos, one of her and one of each child, and we incorporated the three of them into a single portrait. This process included rebuilding some sections from scratch, such as drawing in the mother's neck.

Simply isolating the little girl and setting her against a portrait backdrop instantly transformed this cute but otherwise unremarkable photograph into a gorgeous portrait. We also lightened and delicately softened the image.

Similarly to the above example, we replaced this photo's background with a portrait backdrop. The image was taken in a studio with a portrait backdrop already in place, but it was dark and lifeless. Our replacement makes for a much more interesting, dynamic image.

Not only can we expertly manipulate single photos, but we can also employ our graphic design experience to edit and arrange a number of images to create a stunning, unique piece.

A customer came to us with a newspaper article that was spread out over two pages and asked that we consolidate it into a single image. She had the original photographs that were used in the article, which we arranged, along with the text that we rewrote verbatim and in typefaces nearly identical to those in the original clipping, into a clean, professional looking piece that looks much more impressive than it had in its original format.

Each year the head of the Chattanooga Woodworking Academy gives a special gift to his graduating class. For the class of 2016, he had us replace the heads from the old photograph on the left with those of his class. This required careful grafting from provided photos.

We combined two separate images of this mother and daughter, in the same shirt at around the same age, to appear as if they were posing for a portrait together.

Colorization

Montages

Restoration

Photographs degrade. In most cases it's an unfortunate inevitability. Improper storage or longterm exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays gradually lead to fading, distress, distortion, and sometimes even mold. For various reasons, some photographs get destroyed in other ways, being torn apart or suffering fire damage or any number of sad fates. No one can restore a physically damaged photo; what we do is scan your damaged image onto our computers, restore them digitally, and print them for you on quality photopaper. Photographs represent dear memories; our mission is to restore your photos as closely to their original appearance as possible, such that these memories may be preserved. Below are some examples of the various types of photo degradation and an introduction to how we deal with them.

This photo was torn into several pieces. The customer taped it back together, but the pieces didn't fit right. We brought the photo back to its original appearance by manually realigning the face and using existing pieces of the photo skillfully to cover the torn areas.

Restoring this photo involved a similar process to the preceding one. Like solving a puzzle, we align the separate pieces as closely as possible, and then we cover up the remaining cracks. This photo had also undergone moderate fading and color distortion, which we corrected to look as if the photo had very recently been taken.

The owner of this faded photograph attempted to recolor it by hand, eliminating some of the midtones and rendering the image rather flat. We brought back those subtle tones and hues and placed some clouds in the background for added depth.

This was one of the most difficult photos we've ever worked on. It had so badly degraded that important details like the subject's face and the texture of his uniform were nearly invisible. With a combination of our time-honed restoration skills and our powerful software, we created a finished product that looks as good as new.

Often the result of improper storage, silver mirroring affects many old photographs and prints. Silver mirroring is a light blue, reflective sheen that manifests in the darkest shadows of a photograph. It may be localized and relatively unobtrusive or, as in this example, completely ruin the dark tones of an image. With such photos, we selectively darken only those areas affected by the mirroring. It's a painstaking process, but the result is worth the effort.

This photo was badly creased. Restoring any photo with such prominent creases is a difficult and delicate process. This one proved particularly challenging, given that the creases intersect with the intricate fabric patterns of the subjects' dresses. We were able to restore the image without losing any of the beautiful textures.

This photo was scarred by both a taped newspaper clipping and residue from another photo that had been stuck on top of it. We borrowed unmarred pieces from the photo itself, as well as selections from other photos in our extensive library, to restore the portrait to its original beauty. 

This photo was stuck to the glass that covered it. Photos stuck to glass are among the most common that customers bring us. Restoring this particular photo, which was only half covered in glass, involved not only removing the cracks and edges of the glass but also matching the colors of the area covered by glass to those of the area not covered by glass.

Every now and then we get a photo like this one, which would seem to require a near miracle to restore. To accomplish this, we had to borrow pieces from multiple other photos, then edit their size, orientation, and lighting so that they appeared to sit naturally in the image. A difficult job, but one well worth the effort.

We don't only work with photographs. We can restore any image you bring us. With our expertise in image editing, we were able to remove the tape from the above marriage license and correct for the yellowing, restoring to the document to how it appeared when originally printed.

This type of photo damage is one we commonly see with framed images.  Due to edges of this photo having been protected by the edges of its frame, they degraded at a different rate from the rest of the photo, which had been exposed to direct sunlight.  In addition to correcting the colors of both the center and the edges and matching them, we also extending the background on the right side and the top of the photo in order to achieve a more balanced composition.

This photo, while fairly low in difficulty compared to much of our work, had some light scratches, a crease on the left, and several spots of mold.  But the most significant alteration we made was to the background, which was originally blank and dull.  By substituting in a professional portrait backdrop and vignetting the edges, we transformed this nice but casual photo into a lovely, professional looking portrait.