Photo damage from wood/coal smoke

[wivell6]

I have a family photo from about 1927. It was always in a frame, but my uncle lived alone and always burned an old coal or wood stove. The picture wasn't burnt but has soot I think around it. I want to know if I can clean it, or if it can be cleaned and restored. It's in good shape other than that.

Thanks, Kelly

[Treetotal]

Hi Kelly and welcome to Rootschat, I wouldn't attempt to clean the actually photo except to brush away any dirt with a soft brush, makeup of shaving brush would do, as long as you don't wet it as you could take off the coating. If you could scan it in colour at a resolution of 300dpi and in colour mode we can have a go at it for you.
Carol

[wivell6]

Ok I’ll give that a go if I can. It’s quite big so not sure I can scan it. 

[Gadget]

Hi

If it's too big for your scanner, try scanning in two or more pieces with overlaps. I've done this for A2 up.photos and managed to match up. Also, maybe take a photo of it so that we can see what it should look like.

If all else fails a good photo of it might be the way to go.*

Gadget

*Add  Make sure that the camera and the photo are as parallel as possible if you have to do this.