Pictorium Photoshop Monkstown Dublin Professional Photo and Image Scanning Service. Digitise your Slides, Glass Slides, Negatives, Hard Copy, Photo Albums. Print Canvas, Framed. No limit

Very pleased with ultra-efficient pleasant service and high quality of finished product – i.e. the thousands of photos scanned and “recoloured” from our accumulated family albums! Thanks, Sharon 🙂  Helen Cleasby

 

Scan / Digitise your Photos and Protect Them For Life

We restore & repair photos on a daily basis so we have see our fair share of damaged photos.

From torn, faded & marked photos, water damaged slides & negatives through to faded and discoloured portraits & lithographs.

Your photos are precious memories, so why not digitise them to keep them safe for you and future generations to enjoy.

We offer a Professional Photo Scanning Service. We can scan in your original photographs, slides, negatives, positives, glass slides, lithographs etc. 

Photo Albums are a speciality as we are happy to remove them from (and put them back if requested) the album for you. In fact we recently worked with a customer who inherited 44 Photo Albums with approx 2,800 photos from her family. We removed the individual photos scanned in each one, catalogued them and then gave her 10 copies on USB sticks to give to her extended family.

Scanning & Resolution (detail)

Scanning in photos professionally is all about getting as much detail as possible from your image. This is called resolution.

As photo restoration specialists part and parcel of what we do is scanning photos, slides etc. to the highest resolution. This ensures that we get every possible detail from your photo/art.

This in turn means that your photo can be enlarged without losing any of the detail. 

Unlike many services we do not use automated image correction software bundled into scanners which often end with poor results. This can leave your photos discoloured and with a blur. 

Every photo is unique and should be treated as so. Because of this we would always recommend raw scans and then when needed using photoshop to colour correct and restore.

Quality of Service

Your photos are precious and need to be treated with the utmost care. They can be easily marked by damaging oils and finger prints. So to keep your photos safe we always wear our lint-free gloves when handling your precious pictures.

All work is done in-house and each and every photograph is treated with the utmost care.

When your photographs are scanned they are then quality checked by us before you receive them.

Cataloguing

We offer cataloguing at no extra cost. If you would like to batch your photos by event/occasion/decade we will catalogue them for you.

What Do We Scan?

We have been working with Customers nationally and internationally as well Museums, Historians, Genealogists, Organisations, Sports & Social Clubs, Schools… for decades so you can imagine we have see it all.

We have worked with:

Photos Hard Copies, Loose and in Albums from passport size up to very large format

Film Slides (inc Glass), Negs etc in all sizes

Art Line drawing, painting and canvas in all sizes

Documents & Letters Historical and Personal

Old Style Lithographs, Daguerrreotypes, Ambrotypes & Tintypes

Resolution for Types of Scans

Hard Copies, Slides, Negatives & Film

PHOTOS Resolution: Up to 1,000dpi, depending on the size of your photo
Slides, Negs and Film Resolution: Naturally 3,200dpi. Up to 6,400dpi

We work with Hard Copies, Slides (+ glass slides), Negatives & Film on a daily basis with no limit on the amount we scan.

Lithographs, Daguerrreotypes, Ambrotypes & Tintypes

Resolution: Up to 1,000dpi, depending on the size of your image or portrait

These styles of printing date back to the 1800s!

Not only do we scan your precious portraits and art to the highest possible quality we can also restore them.

We are asked on a regular basis how can you tell the difference. We have put together a quick guide to the different types and their distinguishing features.

Please below for more information. If you ever need any help or advice please do call or email us.

Storing your Digitised Images

We can enlarge or reduce the size of the scanned photographs to suit your needs.

All of the scans are stored onto CD / DVD and USB / Memory Stick.

We regularly zip and dropbox/wetransfer photos to customers. We also email photos on behalf of our customers – very popular when your family or friends live overseas.

Not Recommended

Home Printers with Scanner Adapters

Scanners attached to home printers tend to only be good enough for scanning in documentation. You will not get the level of quality that you need to enlarge and/or print.

Mobile Phones

Mobile phones are great for taking a natural photo but not a “photo” of your photos or even using an app to digitise your photos. There are a myriad of reasons why. 

• They will never be able to take a photo to the same quality/resolution as a high res scanner.

• A camera phone will not have as big of a sensor as a digital camera. This allows for more light to be let in as well as more options resulting in crisper, clearer photos. 

• Namely it is nigh on impossible to take the photo without letting light in which will reflect on the photo itself putting a cast over the photo. 

• Unless you can take the photo exactly straight on the photo will be misaligned with the photo being distorted.

Sending via Text WhatsApp etc

If you have a high res image that you want to send to have it restored or even printed. Always email the photo.

WHY When you email a photo (depending on your phone) your phone will automatically either a) send the Actual size file or b) ask you if you would like to send a “small, medium, large or actual” size image. Always choose “actual” size.

When you send via text, WhatsApp etc. your phone automatically sends a lower quality version of your photo equivalent to a small or medium size image. 

Print

Why not print your favorite photos? We can scan and print your photos to photographic paper, print and frame them or print them onto canvas.

Photograph Types_A Quick Guide

LITHOGRAPHS 1796-1950s

Surface: Paper and/or backed onto canvas
Lithography was invented around 1796 in Germany by an otherwise unknown Bavarian playwright, Alois Senefelder, who accidentally discovered that he could duplicate his scripts by writing them in greasy crayon on slabs of limestone and then printing them with rolled-on ink.

It was very popular with painters who would use black chalk or charcoal. It is an original piece of artwork with the signature, usually located on the back.

Lithographs v Print
By Look A lithograph will show signs of irregularities in the dot pattern with offset lithography leaving a dotted circular pattern in rows

By Touch You can also compare a lithograph vs. print by touch. Rub your hand lightly over an original lithograph, and the surface should feel slightly raised. Prints will always have a completely flat surface because they came from a printing press.

DAGUERREOTYPES 1839-1860s

Surface: Highly polished, mirror-like silver
Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwide in 1839 and was the first publicly available photographic process.

They are shiny to view and were made on highly polished mirror-like silver-coated copper plates and would come in protective cases or sleeves, often made of leather and lined with silk or velvet.

You have to tilt them at a 45 degree angle to view them. Depending on the angle at which you view them, they can look like a negative, a positive or a mirror.

They became less popular with the advent of the less expensive Ambrotype in 1860.

AMBROTYPE 1854-1880s

Surface: Glossy often behind glass
Patented in 1854s and superceded the more expensive Daguerreotypes in the 1860s.

Like the Daguerreotype they be found in hinged protective cases. They are typically housed in miniature hinged cases made of wood covered with leather, paper, cloth, or mother of pearl.

They are on glass. Backed with a dark substance (such as varnish or paper) they look positive, but when the backing starts to deteriorate, you can often see through the glass.

TINTYPE 1853-1930s

Surface: Iron, semi-glossy
Patented in 1856. They are actually printed on iron, not tin. Unlike a daguerreotype, tintypes are not reflective.

Most Tintypes are not found in a protective sleeve or case. Cased tintypes may be difficult to distinguish from cased ambrotypes.

Weight can help to differentiate, but a magnet may be used to conclusively identify the tintype’s iron support.

We are here to help, so call us and see how we can digitize your memories.

Scanning photos for customers nationwide via • Our Shop • Phone • Email • Facebook • Post.