Re: cleaning stereo views

["The Photo-3D List" <photo-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Dear all,
>
>OK, here's a real collecting question: is it possible to clean vintage stereo
>views?
>
>There are various forms of dirt--the slow, sedimentary dust of time; ink and
>pencil marks; nameless sticky black blobs.
>

Good question. It probably depends on the kind of contamination. In some
cases, it's possible to physically scratch off the spot if you are very
careful not to injure the emulsion any further (I'm assuming you are
talking about "real photo" views and not lithos).

On general dirt, I'd be pretty reluctant to do anything involving chemicals,
although I have read about such attempts. I'd say ink and pencil are probably
lost causes (although this sort of problem is not unusual - I'm assuming
it's the result of some little kid with nothing to do on a rainy day who
decides to "color" the view). 

The biggest problem seems to be in those views that predate modern silver
halide photo chemistry - they have gone  orange and low contrasty.
Again, there is some work in the field which allows chemical treatment of the
image, but I'm much more into digital photo enhancement via computer means.
Using photoshop, I've been able to pull up a usable image almost 100%
of the time. The three toughest I've ever worked with was 

1. A tintype which has gone very dark (as they tend to do) which was found
in an attic in Telluride, Colorado a few years ago. It's a group photo
of men in a "hunting" setting, taken in front of a painted backdrop. There
is a strong suggestion that it is a previously unknown tintype of Butch
Cassidy about the time he robbed the bank there (1888 if I remember correctly),
which is quite similar to the well known one taken in Fort Worth in 1901. 
I was asked to enhance it and do some forensic comparisons with other photos.
I'm convinced it's him (and some members of his gang) but opinions vary.

2. A circa 1875 image of Mary Todd Lincoln, taken by a photographer specializing
in "spirit photography", which was big at the time. It supposedly shows the
ghost of the dead president standing behind her with his hand on her 
shoulder. Needless to say, he appears very, err, ghostly with low contrast
and low detail. I was asked to enhance him to see if he matched any known
(living) photos to determine how the photo was made.

3. An image of a circa 1890's woman (big hat with bows) which was produced
by having a photo pressed against the BACK of another photo for many years
in an album. Some of the image had transferred (*very* faintly) to the
second photo - when I scanned it in, I got a total of about 10 shades
of gray (out of a possible 256), but was able to pull out an image - 
although no one has recognized her so far (probably lived in the
Flagstaff, Az area judging from the photo on the FRONT).

Unfortunately none of these are stereoviews (sigh). If anyone is 
interested, I can put them on bobcat in the ftp area.

THANKS!

   -------- Bob Wier ----- wier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -----
  East Texas State University Computer Science Dept.
   keeper of the Motorola MC68HC11, ICOM Radio, and
   Overland-Trails mailing lists and the LDS Genealogy
                     State Research Outlines 
         "Congress - n. - the antonym of Progress"



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End of PHOTO-3D Digest 1247
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