Copy and restoration

Copy and restoration photography is a very challenging and interesting niche. Dealing with a variety of originals - tiny, dark tintypes; four foot long panoramics; curved portraits, contemporary color prints - makes it fun. We combine technical skills with artistic ability so that the copy retains as much of the feeling of the original as possible.

Maize Photography is very conservative about the safety of your original. Your originals never leave our premises until you pick them up.  If your work requires the services of an outside artist or printer, we send a high quality digital file or negative, never your original.

This conservatism also applies to "restorations" of damaged images. So many different photographic processes have been used in the past century and a half that cleaning or repairing your original is really more likely to cause long term harm than fix it. Therefore we start by copying it and do all work on the copy. This may be either conventional or digital depending on what needs done. As for your original, we usually recommend either storage or framing in acid-free materials to protect it.

With more recent work, copyright can be a concern. For this reason, we urge you to contact the original photographer first for two reasons. If the original negatives are still available you will get a better print from them. If the negatives no longer exist, they can give you a copyright release. (That is written permission to make additional copies.) Many of the chain studios that do not retain negative files are very accommodating about this.

Please call us at 724-463-3963 for an appointment to show us your originals and discuss your specific needs.