A 1940s Portrait Broken into Pieces
The client sent this one apologising for the state of it. It is exactly the kind of photograph worth sending.
Drag the handle to compare the original with the restored version.
The photograph
A studio portrait of a young woman with set waves in her hair, in the glamour style of the 1940s. Almost certainly a professional sitting.
The damage
The print had broken into several pieces along hard fold lines and losses ran through the middle of her face — across the nose, mouth and one cheek. Areas of the background and shoulder were missing entirely, and the surface had yellowed and speckled.
The work
Fragments first: the pieces were aligned digitally so the edges met exactly, because everything afterwards depends on that being right. Her face was then rebuilt using the surviving half as reference, taking particular care with the mouth, where any error is immediately obvious. The waves in her hair had to be continued through the missing sections following the logic of the set. The colourisation is period-specific — the deep red lip of the 1940s, warm brown hair, pearls, and a soft studio backdrop.
This was a torn and cracked photo restoration job — see more on torn and cracked photo restoration.
| Service level | Advanced repair with colourisation |
| Price band | £30+ |
| Turnaround | 3 days |
Other Restorations
Torn Baby Portrait Rebuilt from Fragments
One of the most damaged photographs I have worked on, and proof that a print in this condition is not beyond saving.
A Colour Print Lost Under a Yellow Cast
Colour prints from the 1970s and 1980s fail in a very particular way, and it looks far worse than it actually is.
An Edwardian Child Portrait in Colour
Seeing a child from a hundred years ago in colour is the moment most clients tell me they had not expected.
Have a photograph like this?
Send me a scan or a clear phone photo. I will tell you honestly what can be recovered, and what it will cost, within three hours.
