Over the years we have seen how slides and negative film stock has changed and deteriorated with time. Photo technicians are aware of the strong blue tint seen on Kodak film, the orange hue on Agfa. Well at Saturn Films 1969 I recently had the privilege to work on a set of family slides which covered a 40 year time span. I was able to see the various impacts of time on the series – and that prompted this article on the challenge of saving those images.
About half of the photos were taken on Kodak Kodachrome and the other half on Ektachrome and generic stock. The images were taken in many different countries and locations and in varying lighting conditions. It was an interesting and challenging project.
The first observation to be made, and the most obvious for me, was the contamination with dust and mold. Although the slides had been well stored the dust was significant, and quite sticky. Our blower was only removing a portion of the contaminant. During scanning, and+ again during the processing of the images in lightroom and photoshop, the dust is reduced. For us physically cleaning the slide is a step of last resort as the image can be scratched or worse. We deal with the original scans first and if the customer wants us to make the next step, we will. For that we use a special film emulsion cleaner, a special cloth and steady nerves!
The mold affected a significant number of slides manifesting as spots or patches with an irregular shape. These were examined in photoshop and then manually removed or their appearance reduced. Physically cleaning the slides is not likely to reduce mold as it grows within the film medium.
The second observation was the loss of colour and vibrance. The oldest of the slides had become very pale and to bring the colours back took extra restoration work. Photoshop was used in this process and I also tried some of the new ‘AI’ software from Topaz labs. Photoshop worked well for me but that software is well known. The newer ‘AI’ programs worked less well but there is a learning curve to using them and so, for me, the jury is out on their benefits. This is an area where things are changing and so we will keep our watchful eye on developments!!
The third observation was that the carboard mounts of the slides had in many cases become unstuck. The Kodak Kodachrome slides were much better in this respect compared to the generic ones. They are simple enough to repair though, remounting in new plastic frames is the preferred option if they are to be viewed in the future.
Overall this project was time consuming as we were repairing the mounts and then adjusting the colour balance with Photoshop throughout. In the future we will see many more projects like this where time has not been so kind the the family photos. It will be interesting to watch whether the new emerging software will be able to provide us with better restorative tools, or whether Adobe Photoshop will maintain its momentum providing a top class editing solution.
At the end of the day the client was pleased with the work, and the photos with his family history have been restored and preserved. And really for me that’s what this whole business is about.
David May 2024