sepia

[THJacobson]

I have been going over many of my old photos.  Many were originally sepia.  Sometimes the restoration would be more true by keeping a brown or sepia tone.

Just a suggestion, not a criticism.

Tom

[Mhayes]

Tom, we try to keep the ones that were originally sepia that same tone. On others where we are uncertain, two versions are submitted: black and white, and the other sepia. On one of the copy runs, the pictures looked sepia, but because of the time period they were taken and also because the owner specified that the were black and white, it made the final decision easier.

Margie

[THJacobson]

Great point,  maybe somewhere on the submission form some more information could be obtained...i.e. hand colored, sepia, charcoal etc.  I know that would help, because all of the great people working on the prints do not have the opportunity to see and feel the original.

Again just some thoughts, I know I am new.

Tom

[Hannie]

If you type "sepia" in the search function of this board you will see some very interesting topics!

Hannie

[THJacobson]

I agree...but still think more info is not bad.  Did look at search.

but I am just a Norwegian

Tom

[weewood]

I never much cared for just the black & white sepia tones that Photoshop provides. I like the brownish versions. So, I created my own. I don't know how to make an attachment to this thread, so email me at wee_wood@comcast.net if you would like a copy.

[cmpentecost]

I have sometimes called photo owners before sending the photos off for printing, to get the owner's preferred version.  I'd say about 75% prefer sepia, and the other 25% black and white.

Chris

[jneil2]

I like Tom's idea about indicating the preference on the submission form. 

[schen]

It is a good idea to return a sepia when the original was a sepia.  I am just wondering technically how we can do it efficiently if we receive a batch of mixed sepia and B/W from the same family. 

[zinger]

Shujen,

I have to tell you, those "glasses" really make you look like the ultimate geek - but in a good way.


It seems logical to me that a restoration that started as a sepia should be returned as a sepia as the default unless the family requests otherwise.

[Ausimax]

Zinger, the problem is not returning sepia as sepia, but in knowing if the original was sepia or if it is discoloured due to age and damage.

The ultimate answer would be to have a form completed for each photo detailing all the information you would request if you were doing it commercially, that works well in a controlled environment dealing with a limited number of photos, but for an OPR copy run with the high volume of photos, cleaning required, limited time and bodies on the ground, I doubt it could be achieved.

I think the only answer is to return doubtful photos as both B/W and sepia, it requires little extra effort, for more serious problems perhaps a system where we can ask our distributor and if they can't answer the question, they could contact the owner for additional info, I doubt that they would object as it would let them know their photos were being processed.

In the meantime we continue to make educated (?) guesses.  

Besides if we knew what we were doing it would take out all the Fun.

Max

[schen]

Technically, if we assume the water damage does not alter a B/W to a sepia and if we attempt to restore the photos to the way they were just before the flood then the decision is easy to make.

[Hannie]

Schen, I like that assumption! (and your goggles!)

Hannie

[THJacobson]

Today, I hope to submit a different, more complete form for thought.  It will solve several problems, I think...but that is just me.  Camera goes to Fuji today.
Chris, we talked about a couple problems I hope that I can address. 
Hope you made it home before more bad weather.
Tom

[cmpentecost]

Hi Tom,

Technically, I'm home, but relatively speaking, I'm still in a zombie state!  (and for those of you that were not on the copy run, "technically" was our word of the day for Friday, and "relatively" was our word of the day for Saturday! 

The sun is shining today, so that's a good thing!  No snow is falling!

I think each time we do a copy run, we learn more and more of how to improve our system. 

Christine