Any really good place for old photo scanning/repair?

[avjudge]

Actually it's a photocopy of an old photo, so I don't want any further degradation in quality - and any ability to interpolate to make it less photocopy-y, and repair the images of the damage that obviously existed in the original picture (water stains, tears), would be a plus.

I got this copy of a photo of our street when it was first developed, 14 houses in 1874, from a neighbor when she was selling. She didn't seem to have an original, just these copies, and didn't leave one for the buyer as she promised. So this seems to be the only copy/version of this photo available.

I lent it to the historical society so they could have a copy, but if the extra copy she gave me back is anything to go by, they didn't do a very good job. I would like to have a high-quality digital copy for myself, and copies for those of the houses that are owner-occupied and whose owners are interested, so this picture doesn't disappear back into someone's garage. (That's where this one was originally hanging, I'm told.)

Any suggestions of particularly good photo wizards in or beyond Somerville?

(I did see the scanning thread from last year, but this seems more specialized than that.)

Anne

Comments

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

Newtonville photo helped me out many years ago - so they may still have the retouch experts there. Zeff's (Belmont) may be able to help as well. and, if either of those places can't, I'm sure they'd know a good service in the general area.

[geoffroi.livejournal.com]

Hunt's in Malden does scanning/retouching. The one in Harvard Sq. might be able to help you out (or get the image to Malden).

[avacon.livejournal.com]

Which street? I'm not a professional, but I've been interested
in pulling together some old photos and maps of the area, and I have a scanner.
Here's some of what I've collected for Irving St:
http://www.irvingstreet.net/history/

[avjudge]

Cool - where'd you get the 1922 map? The Sanborn database I can log into with my library # only has 1900 and 1933 (and I've seen & photocopied the 1874 & 1884 maps in the library).

The street's actually the lower half of Glenwood Road, between Medford Street & the tracks/Vernon St. I didn't mention it because it's so far from Davis Sq, I thought some might object! It was originally Jenny Lind Avenue. Horace Partridge developed it and (the modestly-named) Partridge Avenue next to it.

Anne

[spud.livejournal.com]

I saw this post earlier, but didn't have a chance to respond then. I kind of figured that someone else would have responded by now though...

I'd be happy to scan the photo in and see what I can do to clean it up. Phot retouching is just kind of a hobby. Here's a quick link to one I did a while back for a well known writer down in New Orleans. It was a quick touch-up, but shows how some physical damage can be restored:

Before


After



I'm in Central Square, so either you can find someone close to you who can scan the image in at high resolution and then email it to me, or we can arrange a time to meet up and I can scan it in on my system.

Drop me a line to eldergoth AT gmail DOT com if you'd like me to see if I can clean it up for you.

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

Cameras Inc right in the square can do this for a few bucks, and I think they'll do as good as anyone doing it for money rather than love.

Zeff Photo

[tracy-rolling.livejournal.com]

Zeff Photo in Belmont (actually fairly near the Whole Foods at Fresh Pond if you're driving) is awesome.

[bluedaisy.livejournal.com]

Zeff Photo in Belmont has a photo restoring service. I haven't tried it, but they have done a great job with other stuff.