Photo Repair & Restoration Process

Questions

 

Can you fix all photos?
Repairs can be made to most photos, but not all photos can be repaired to the same high standard. Most photos can be improved to some degree though results vary depending on the degree of damage that has occurred and the quality of the original photo or print. If for any reason your photo cannot be restored, we will let you know during the quotation process and you won't have to pay for any images that we cannot restore to a sufficient quality.

 

What is the risk?
There is no risk for you at all. Our quotes are final and there are no extras or hidden charges (unless you change your requirements). Repairs do not commence until you have approved the repair quote, so if you don't accept the quote you pay us nothing. 

 

How do I get my photo repaired?

Drop them off of course if you are in the Houston area.  If not, you may ship us the actual photo or email an electronic version for us to assess.

 

Do you need the original photo to perform the repair ?

Generally we prefer to scan the photo ourselves as our high grade professional scanners are designed to capture as much detail as possible from the damaged photo. Sending us a poor quality or low resolution scan will obviously affect the quality of the repair. If you still wish to scan the photo yourself, please ensure the photo is scanned at a resolution of at least 300DPI. The higher the resolution, the more we can manipulate the image.  See our scanning article on how to scan a photo for repair.

 

What digital image formats do you accept?

We prefer TIFF format, but JPEG and PNG formats are also accepted. We can repair TIFF images, though these are generally too large to email. You are probably best sending these to us on a CD or USB stick for example.

 

Can you fix images from a digital camera ?

Yes, photos taken with a digital camera will be in jpeg (or JPG) format. These can be used for any repair or printing, though enlargements will be restricted depending on the resolution (megapixels) of the camera that was used.

 

Can you repair photos that have fallen apart into two or more pieces?
Yes, just make sure you send us all the pieces, or include all the pieces in the high resolution scan if you are sending the image electronically, and we will put it back together again for you.

 

Can you remove someone or an object from a photo ?
Yes we can remove any unwanted people or objects from a photo.

 

Part of the photo is missing completely. Can you replace this?
We can replace certain details so you wouldn't know it was missing. It is quite common for corners of old photos to be missing and these can usually be replaced. 

 

Some people have their eyes closed. Can you open their eyes for us? 
Yes, but only if you send us another photo showing their eyes as we will use this to repair your image.

 

Some of the faces in the photo are badly faded and not recognizable, can you fix them?
This all depends on the level of damage that the photo has sustained. If the damage is too great, then we will not be able to restore the faces for you.

 

I'm worried about sending my precious items to you.
This is understandable, but be assured that we receive many photos, slides and film negatives daily from customers all over the country just like you. We strongly suggest that you send your package Signature Required and Forward us the Tracking. Houston Video Transfer can not be held responsible for items not received.  

All our work  is done in-house, we do not send any original items to any 3rd party for processing, so you can be assured that once we receive your items they will be in safe hands. Once we receive your items, they are stored securely before being scanned and uploaded onto our servers. The original items are then stored securely again until we return your completed order.

 

My photo is badly blurred; will it be nice and sharp when it comes back?
Unfortunately this is one thing that we cannot fix. Poor focusing or camera shake when the photo was taken cannot be "fixed" as the details are not there to be restored. So, if it is blurred to start with it will most likely be blurred when the damage is repaired.

 

Can you restore old documents or certificates ?
Yes, we can restore any paper based documents, certificates and newspaper articles etc. If it can be electronically scanned, we can restore it. However, you must ensure that you have permission to make a copy of the document, as certain documents are sometimes covered by copyright laws.

 

What instructions do I need to provide you to repair the photo?
None. Our restoration team is very experienced and knows how to repair damaged photos. However if you have any special requests, such as "remove the border" or "remove the people in the background" please let us know. If we are coloring the photo for you then you may wish to specify some of the colors, such as "brown eyes", "blonde hair", "blue dress" etc, otherwise we will use our judgement on what colors we think are appropriate.