Historic Color Photo Restoration: 1932 Dufay Color Glass Plate

  Historic Color Photo Restoration: 100 year-old Autochrome Stereo Plate

Photographed in Paris on January 30, 1910, using the new color Autochrome process developed by the Lumière Brothers in 1907, this stereo plate captures a unique and rare 100+ year old image of the river Seine and the Eiffel Tower as our eyes would have viewed the scene had we been alive that long ago.

The plate was first carefully cleaned, then scanned at very high resolution and color-corrected. It was only lightly scuffed; it was underexposed and dark, and the colors had shifted toward red, and gone muddy. This required about 7 hours of focused restoration work. Some heavy intrusive smudges were repaired, but most were left as testament to the photograph’s provenence.

  Illustrator Map Design

More than 90 maps have been designed by Richard Sullivan Graphic design Services for clients including the Oahu Visitors Bureau, various visitor attractions, reference publications, internet websites and visitor guides.

  Direct Mail

Our Full-Service Publication Design Services expertise includes the creation of award-winning* books from conceptualization through customer delivery, as well as magazine, catalog and brochure projects.

*Driving & Discovering Hawaii: Oahu, winner “Best Hawaii Guidebook”, American Airlines and Hawaii Visitors and Conventions Bureau Travel Journalism Award

  Full-Service Publication Design

  Humorous T Shirt Design

T shirt designs for Kilauea Volcano, left, and Hawaii’s Big Island.

  Brochure Design and Graphics

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Fotografi (Norway)

Viaggi (Italy)

Communication Arts Photography Annual

Conde Nast Traveler

Los Angeles Magazine

Landmark Calendars

Kapalua Bay Resort Maui

Architectural Digest

Los Angeles Times

ALL the photos on the discoveringhawaii.com website and in Driving & Discovering Hawaii Books were taken by photographer Richard Sullivan, or are taken from his historic collection. Richard Sullivan has completed more than 55 photo assignments for the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, and 20 photojournalism assignments for Los Angeles Magazine, and scores more national and international publications have assigned photo shoots or featured Richard Sullivan’s photography. Programs: Adobe Photoshop, LightRoom,

  Assignment Photography

  Historic Color Photo Restoration: 1940 WWII German Agfacolor

This is a circa 1940 Agfacolor 35mm transparency depicting German Luftwaffe and enlisted men cleaning their firearms.

It was scanned at high resolution on a Nikon CoolscanV and density and color were corrected, and dust and scratches were removed individually to maintain image quality and sharpness.

Historic Color Photo Restoration: 1918 Finlaycolour Plate, England

Hearst Books

World Botanical Gardens

The antique Finlaycolour process employs a distinctive RGB screen to produce the color, not unlike a color TV. Flat bed scanning only further enhanced this intrusive pattern and also created an unwanted moiré effect, so the plate was instead digitally re-photographed at a slightly softened focus to negate the screen’s pattern, then color corrected from a serious shift toward magenta and brought back to its original state. Finally, about 100 scratches and dust particles were individually removed. Photoshop’s quick  “dust and scratches” filter achieves its effect by throwing the entire image out of focus, and for our standards is not acceptable.

The subjects are the Lonsdale Family of Keighley, England, on holiday at Blackpool Beach and picnicking at Pen-Y-Ghent in 1918.

  Color Photo Restoration: 1941 Kodachromes

These slides are from a series of 70 year-old Kodachrome transparencies that had been well-cared for, and thus had only suffered minor surface damage. Dust was blown off with canned air, and remaining dust particles removed and scratches repaired painstakingly in Photoshop. The colors and the density had deteriorated but meticulous restoration brought these family treasures back to the original beauty for which Kodachrome film was world-renowned.

entire website and its contents copyright 2010 by richard sullivan

This circa 1932 Dufay Color glass plate transparency of the Moise Bridge in Venice employs a patterned screen to create the color, but it’s distinctive geometric pattern intrudes upon the aesthetic. Flat bed scanning only enhanced the pattern and created a moire effect, so the plate was photographed digitally at a slight soft focus to eliminate the screen’s pattern. The file was then color corrected and returned to its original potential. Finally, dust and scratches were repaired one by one. The 1932 clothing styles add to the charm of this beautiful shot.

Richard Sullivan Photography and Graphic Design: architectural, editorial, travel, portraits and fine art photographer; museum quality color photo restoration; comprehensive book publishing and advertising design. The Los Angeles Times, Oahu Visitors Bureau, Dupont Nemours, Paramount Studios, Hearst Books, Conde Nast Traveler, TIME Magazine and dozens of others number among my satisfied clients.