Submitted by Dwestmor1007 t3_11a3p1i in LifeProTips
My mom lost her son over 30 years ago. Every picture but one she had of him was destroyed in a fire. Now the last photo she had was drenched in a pipe bursting last night that they didn’t discover until this morning. Now the only picture she has left is fused with the frame…is there any way to save it without destroying the last thing she has of him?
Take a picture of it with your phone. Digitize whatever you have. Back those up on two different major services.
Don't try to take the glass off. Not at all worth it.
The only viable answer. Once you do this you can try to save the physical photo. At least if it's destroyed in the process you have something rather than nothing
I would take it to a photocopier shop, or someone with a flatbed scanner and get the best quality scan of it they can offer. It will be far superior to anything a phone can capture. This will be better without the frame if it is not flat, but make no attempt to remove the photo from the glass, it will just get damaged.
I wouldn't try to remove it. I'd just scan it with the glass on it to digitize it and re print it.
I worked in a frame shop for a few years, and unfortunately what people are saying is the exact advice I would have given.
If you can remove the glass, picture and backing from the frame without the glass shifting that's going to make it the easiest to get a good scan. If that's not an option you can try carefully breaking the frame off from around it. You want to be sure you don't crack the glass.
If you can get some decent quality scans r/estoration can often touch it up. From there you can get some new prints, and preserve it properly.
Related PSA, if you want to preserve something don't let it touch the glass. Use a pH neutral mat board, or some spacers to keep it separated.
Also, contact her old friends and family, there may be other people with photos of her son.
He unfortunately only lived for 2 months 30 years ago so they had his newborn photo shoot done and that was all the pictures that they had he died of SIDS at 2 months and 17 days old
The scanner/copy idea others mentioned is good, but I would ask some local professional photographers if they would be willing to help.
Depending on the type or thickness glass, it might be difficult for a scanner to get a clear image, in which case a DSLR camera might be able to copy it better. A photographer, especially one who knows art reproductions/documentation would be able to re-photograph it without glare.
Photographers understand the deeply personal value of photographs like this, I’m sure you could find one who would volunteer to help or do it for a small fee.
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Scan it or take a photo. I would be willing to clean it up but also post to /r/estoration and you will get plenty of kind souls that will help out restoring the photo.
Google has an app called Photoscan. It takes several pictures of a photo then stitches them together removing glare and compensates for the phone being at an angle.
It does a really good job of digitizing old photos. Take a few pictures of it with this app before you try anything.
It is available on Android and ios.
I would digitize with the glass as others have said. If you want to try to free the picture afterward, you could try freezing it.
Close! This is a precious image. Go to a professional who does art reproduction (they create prints of quality/fine art, for instance). They'll use a large format camera, or similar quality, and can take a super detailed image of the original and the fix defects caused by age or water damage.
It'll cost you a bit more, but for something so precious It'll be worth having a really good quality reproduction!
I’d also recommend getting the scan and digital stuff done before attempting to remove it from the glass. That way there’s a backup of the picture.
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A photography service could make a high quality copy of the picture before you try anything on it.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=photography+copy+service&t=ffab&ia=web
I'm sorry to hear about your mother's loss. It sounds like this photo is very important to her. It may be worthwhile to contact a professional photo restoration service to see if they have any ideas on how to separate the photo from the frame without damaging it. Additionally, it may help to keep the frame and photo sealed in a plastic bag with a desiccant material to absorb any excess moisture.
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First of all, take a photograph of it as is, so that at least you can have that to play with on your phone.
Find the best scanner available and carefully clean the glass before scanning.
Former picture framer here, u/QuOtak is spot on but I’d also add- if your picture gets any sunlight, UV glass will protect it from fading and spotting. It’s pretty expensive to frame correctly but it’s worth it for your important photos/art. Nothing would bother me more than seeing a family photo framed with regular glass and cardboard backing (not acid free). That family photo isn’t going to last. There are amazing scan/restoration services for situations like this, but again- good preservation work isn’t cheap and cheap preservation work isn’t good.
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If the photo was taken with a film camera, there's a possibility you can submerge the photo and glass together in a tray of water to separate them.
IMPORTANT: If it was a digital camera, that means the picture was printed instead of developed, and that will ruin it completely.
Definitely look into scanning it with the glass on first to get a good digital copy before attempting to separate it.
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