GordonBoath Posted 22 February , 2013 Share Posted 22 February , 2013 Hi, I'm sure a lot of us dream about finding a stash of old photos from the 1st world war from a relative. I've just been given a dusty box of photos and things from my sister in law who cleared out her grandmothers house when she died 12 years ago. At the bottom of the pile was around 25 photos from the Italian campaign in the Dolomites of their grandfather (in the Austro Hungarian army). Also there were around 50 negatives in various condition. A lot of them were stuck together and came apart in my hands. Some were ok which I scanned (and reversed) to show up the pictures. I have attached a few. Half the photos and negatives are of the troops and artillery regiment in the mountains. The other half are scenic shots of the area and my wifes grandfather having R and R. Just got a couple of questions. Is it common enough for first world war photos to come up and if not is there any point in trying to get them into the hands of a museum expert or anyone like that for restoration? Otherwise, has anyone had any success in getting negatives scanned and printed recently? I find them fascinating as historial pieces but just wondered if photo war archives exist or if war photos are common and are a dime a dozen so no point making a fuss of them. Cheers, Gordon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteStarLine Posted 22 February , 2013 Share Posted 22 February , 2013 Gordon, unseen WW1 photographs are relatively common, but members of the GWF always like seeing unusual ones, or from less commonly photographed theatres. However, it is highly unusual for negatives to turn up. My first bit of advice is STOP. You have, with the best of intentions, inadvertently destroyed some. A professional conservator can give you an opinion on what can be salvaged and what is lost. The AWM use professional conservators and gave me some advice on how they could help me with my collection. The second advice for the 25 photographs is follow the advice on the AWM web site for acid free storage. Then, buy a scanner and scan them at 600 dpi resolution. Save this digital collection. Using a copy, open a file in a good image editor, such as GIMP or Adobe PhotoShop. These have steep learining curves, but allow you to do simple electronic restoration, such as removing the stain on the left hand side of the aircraft wing. You can also adjust contrast and sharpness. PM me fwith any questions. Bill, Canberra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 22 February , 2013 Share Posted 22 February , 2013 Bill is correct to conserve and obtain good images from such negatives will be very difficult unless you have a scanner which can scan at least 600 dpi. I have a set of luckily glass negatives which I have printed in my dark room and then scanned the print. If you can find someone with such a facility then this may be an answer. As for the condition of the negatives that is really a job for the professionals. Here is one of the negs seriously adjusted. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 22 February , 2013 Share Posted 22 February , 2013 And another Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 22 February , 2013 Share Posted 22 February , 2013 Finally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 22 February , 2013 Share Posted 22 February , 2013 And finally, finally this one which is quite badly damaged Photo effects from (Free) http://pixlr.com/o-matic/ Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asanewt Posted 22 February , 2013 Share Posted 22 February , 2013 Masterclass Norman, great result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 22 February , 2013 Share Posted 22 February , 2013 Thanks Jules it was a pleasure Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havrincourt Posted 22 February , 2013 Share Posted 22 February , 2013 Well done Norman and thanks for sharing this great find Gordon Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteStarLine Posted 23 February , 2013 Share Posted 23 February , 2013 Gordon, Norman has done a stunning job. Here is how I digitally restored my collection: * Scanned each photograph at 1200 dpi resolution, giving an average file of around 150 MB for each page of the photo album they were glued into; * Downloaded GIMP from http://www.gimp.org and learned the package; I then opened a copy of each image and over a period of weeks: * Converted the sepia image to black and white, which gives it more sharpness; * For the washed out images like the aircraft, lowered the brightness and increased the contrast, bringing out shadows and richness of detail; * For minor blemishes, used the 'Stamp' effect where you increase the photo size to 200% and find a similar pattern in a good sector and 'stamp' it over the blemish. This will fix an astonishing array of minor issues; * For major tears and cracks, sometimes you can identify what the missing part was, such as a tree or sandbag wall and copy similar structures. This is usually effective, but sometimes it ends up amateurish and it is better to leave it alone. The rewards are considerable. One of my photos shows a big concrete dugout on the Hindenburg Line, part of a trench system. After several months of looking at this, I saw a faint squiggle over one of the entrances. Because I had scanned at such a high dpi, I blew it right up and could distincly read 'SAFE 11 F Coy'. The 11th Field Company engineers had checked it for booby traps and written it was safe over the entrance. Looking at the contact print original, all you saw was a faded shot of a dugout with a man outside one of the entrances. Another shows a shelled village. Zooming in, we found a small house and zooming into 200% magnification we saw the names and distances to adjacent villages painted on. We used this to identify, then visit the house in Suzanne last September, which still stands and still has shrapnel embedded in the walls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonBoath Posted 23 February , 2013 Author Share Posted 23 February , 2013 Thanks all for the interest. I have actually scanned all the negatives at 600 dpi previously. I won't touch them anymore. I will get in touch with the Australian War Museum and see if they give me some assistance. Norman, you've done an amazing job with only the small images I posted. I will post a few more when I get to a computer. If anyone wants to play around with the scanned negatives and see what magic they can do I am happy to ZIP them up and email them. Just PM me your email address. I just ask that the images be used for personal use only. :-) Thanks all. Glad to share. Gordon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonBoath Posted 23 February , 2013 Author Share Posted 23 February , 2013 photo 1 photo 2 photo 3 The bag they came in. last one for now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony osborne Posted 23 February , 2013 Share Posted 23 February , 2013 Amazing photos - keep posting them! Ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 23 February , 2013 Share Posted 23 February , 2013 Very interesting images, through the miracle of Adobe I think I can identify the wine as a 1915 Chianti. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 23 February , 2013 Share Posted 23 February , 2013 A B&W version. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seany Posted 23 February , 2013 Share Posted 23 February , 2013 Gordon, fascinating photographs. I guess my grandfather in the RGA and your wifes GF were potentially shooting at each others batteries, c'est la guerre. Would you be willing to share some for inclusion on my website - acknowledged of course. Was there anything other than photographs? Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 23 February , 2013 Share Posted 23 February , 2013 Lots of problems with the new negs but this one seems to show an artillery rangefinder? Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonBoath Posted 24 February , 2013 Author Share Posted 24 February , 2013 Seany. Happy for you to put up any of the photos you see here. I have my wife's grandfathers promotion certificates and medal citations (but not the medals unfortunately). There was also a couple of silver cigarette cases which were inscribed with the battalion officers signatures. I posted about these previously: At the moment I have posted just the scans of the negatives but I have two dozen other photos in better condition which I can post when my upload limit here allows. Cheers, Gordon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonBoath Posted 24 February , 2013 Author Share Posted 24 February , 2013 Seadog. Thanks for the tips and fixing up the negative images. They look great. I have found similar editing options on my Mac so have played around with copies of the images. Some of them are looking great. Thanks everyone for their comments. Cheers, Gordon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 24 February , 2013 Share Posted 24 February , 2013 Good fun thanks for posting Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 24 February , 2013 Share Posted 24 February , 2013 Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themonsstar Posted 24 February , 2013 Share Posted 24 February , 2013 Cheers Gordon for posting the photos and negatives. I should get around to posting the ones I have from Germany East African Campaign Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonBoath Posted 25 February , 2013 Author Share Posted 25 February , 2013 Used the GIMP imaging software as suggested and it has made a massive improvement to the inverting of the negatives. I have removed the old attachments (sorry but the 2MB limit has been hit) and below are the new images from the negatives. Very happy with their quality. Thanks to everyone for their assistance. Gordon 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 25 February , 2013 Share Posted 25 February , 2013 Well done a great improvement. Regards Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themonsstar Posted 7 March , 2013 Share Posted 7 March , 2013 Great photos well done Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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