[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Cleaning old photos

[Otto]

The carefully steaming process sounds like a winner for the back side.

I've cleaned numerous old photographs prior to scanning them both  
front and back side.
After the photo has thoroughly dried from the steaming bit (if needed)  
one would want to further clean it.

Usually there is a silver oxide residue build-up on the viewed side.  
Use "art gum eraser powder" used by draftsmen to clean down their  
tracings or blueprints.

One should be able to purchase it at an office supply store.
Dust it on and with a slight rubbing action lift a lot of the oxide  
from the face of the photo. Do not over rub. Gentle does it.

Cracks, flaws, discolorations can be cleaned up in the scans if Adobe  
Photoshop if available.
I scan in at 600 - 1000 dpi or more so I have a lot of resolution for  
the cleaning process, then size the master print down and save it to  
disk as a "save as" to whatever height, width and dpi is desired. The  
clean hi-resolution "master scan" I save and archive for future use.  
You will be glad you did.


. . .   Otto
          " The Zen moment..." wk. of January 04, 2009-
               ________________________________
                 "The future. . . . always catches up."