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DaveP
20th July 2013, 11:56 AM
I'll throw this open to the floor.

A recently my grandma died and after her stuff was cleared out we found a few old prints, including an old and slightly torn print from her wedding in about 1947. The dense areas of the print are going metallic-looking, starting from the outer areas.

Now I managed to get a passable scan of the print done for posterity and so we could do family a digital copy (we don't have the neg) but I was wondering if there's any any process that can be done to reverse or halt the silvering of the print? I'm guessing the print will not have been toned originally. You guys and gals will have to advise here as I am not a printer so only have a passing understanding of these matters.

Cheers
Dave

Lostlabours
20th July 2013, 12:39 PM
Back in the 1970's I did a lot of work with a museum, I used a weak ammonia solution to remove the collidal silver which migrates to the surface. It's caused by poor washing and fixing and then atmospheric action converting the silver thiosulphate complexes back to silver metal.

Ian

DaveP
20th July 2013, 01:04 PM
Is there any risk involved with that Ian? I'm wary of doing anything that has any potential to knacker the print.

Lostlabours
20th July 2013, 01:32 PM
It needs experience ideally, it needs to be done slowly and with care. I was dealing with all sorts of photographs from an archive, some weredamaged images which had been damp and had fungal attack.

In some cases I would harden the emulasion first with a formaldehyde solution, sometimes re-fixing, other times just a gental teasing with cotton wool and ammonia solution was enough.

Usually you test the effects on the emulsion on the rebates before proceeding.

I'd had plenty of experience as my grandmother had stored all her family photographs in a cellar, no-one knew there was a stream under a flagstone in the center and there was considerable damage. In this case all the images were hardened then toned to prevent further chemical deterioration.

Ian

numnutz
20th July 2013, 06:56 PM
Make a copy photograph first (On film) then do a digital scan. Make sure you have made your best efforts in case you damage the print using chemical treatments.

nn :)

Paulographic
21st July 2013, 07:14 AM
A framer I used to use would gently rub with a soft cloth some zinc and castor oil cream into old photographs with this effect if not too badly affected to restore a more normal appearance when put under glass. I tried it once and it worked so that I could scan and then tweak a bit in Photoshop.