Ilford 1958 Colour Photo Curled & Wrinkled, Can It Be Saved?

Hello,

In my family photo album, I have an Ilford April 1958 photograph which until very recently has been perfect and stored with many others in a photo album in a box. However, it has now appeared to have shrunk causing the photo paper to curl and create a wrinkle effect in the covering acetate (?, I'm obviously no expert in photographic processes so please bear with me). To scan the photo and re-touch digitally using Photoshop or similar would be a monumental task and, I'd say, impossible. Attached are two photographs of the original and one scanned copy to highlight the problem.
Can whatever caused this shrinking be reversed somehow if the cause was raised/lowered air temperature during storage? I would be very grateful for any advice or suggestions to save this only example of the subject matter and cannot be replaced.

Mark

Is the covering acetate original to the print, or something applied later?
If it's added, it may be possible to peel it off, though exposing the print to air may accelerate any color deterioration. The color looks pretty good now, so taking the coating off could compound your problems.

OT here, but a digital restoration is entirely feasible, it doesn't look to me like it would be all that difficult. Then you can concentrate on conserving the original rather than restoring it.

Simon Galley from Ilford may pick up on this thread, if not, I'd try contacting Ilford and get their advise as a first step.

Hi,
Thanks for the reply.
The photograph is the original taken in April 1958 and the only colour photo of that time. The deterioration occurred suddenly and I suspect a change in air temperature may have caused it ie. moved from loft storage to a warm room with bright sunlight (although still enclosed in a padded photo album). Unfortunately due to my severe lack of knowledge on photographic developing, I do not know if the acetate is is original or added later but, I would suspect its original. Photographs taken in the 1960s were developed on Kodak paper or developed in Japan and are still excellent. If it was due to an increase in air temperature, would cooling the photo have any effect? It could be the result of Vinegar Syndrome that I believe can be rectified but I've no idea how.
I contacted Ilford (re-directed to Harman technology Ltd) and they referred me to this site, APUG. So I'm grateful for any advice/solutions that could save this sole example photograph.

Is the base "plastic" rather than paper or resin-coated paper? If so, it is probably a print from a transparency on a pigmented acetate base (I believe like the similar Kodachrome prints of a similar age?) In which case it could be vinegar syndrome, or some similar change accelerated by the change in temperature or humidity, and maybe some research for conservation websites would help.
I'd also go with the suggestion that scanning and retouching might not be as difficult as you think. I've seen torn and creased old photos saved by the specialist firms offering these services, and prices were not out-of-proportion for valued pictures.

The "Ilford" company in 1958 is not the same business as the present-day Harman....the "old" Ilford Ltd. made a variety of colour and cine films way back, but Harman has been solely B&W since the reorganisation a few years ago. They may not even have any detailed information on the old colour processes, as even the last Ilford colour product (Cibachrome) was not made by Harman.

I have a friend that should be able to correct digitally. Is the image you posted the highest resolution you can do?

The problem doesn't seem to involve the emulsion, because the image itself is not distorted. It almost seems like the print was put in a plastic envelope that has become distorted. It should be fixable in Photoshop.

The Reproduction of Colour, Dr. R. W. Hunt, Fourth Edition, page 220 says: …some of these prints have been made by processes in which the dye images, instead of being formed in the layers by colour development, are formed by image-wise destruction of dyes that are already present in the layers; the Ilford Colour Prints introduced in 1954 were of this type …

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