Monte Luke is a professional, purpose built studio, with a long history of expertise in photography and restoration dating back to 1920. We use all the latest equipment and techniques and the very best papers and inks. You will be amazed at what we can achieve with faded, torn, water marked, yellowed, drawn over or otherwise damaged photographs, and you can rest assured that the restored images will not only last a lifetime, but can be securely archived for later generations.
Stains (e.g. rust, food), dust, marks (e.g. pen, texta), yellowing and scratches; creases, tears, damaged or missing edges, water damage, fading and photos stuck to glass; Reconstructed missing pieces, faces, hands and feet; Changed elements of pictures such as the clothing, hair colour or background; Deleted or added people, objects or text from a photograph; Created individual portraits from a group or combined images to form a group; Corrected, added, changed or removed colour; Enhanced resolution, sharpness, exposure and contrast; Enlarged or reduced image size.
Don’t be concerned – no changes at all are made to your original. Rather we create a high quality digital copy of the original. Various techniques are then applied to the digital copy only, to transform it into a superior photograph.
Poor printing and some of the earlier ‘quick printing’ processes of the 80s and 90s can result in photographs fading over time. Here at Monte Luke, we only use archival quality inks and museum grade paper to prevent this happening. The paper we generally use is sourced from Germany – Hahnemuhle 308gsm Photo Rag – a beautiful paper with a little bit of texture. As long as you look after your photos, they will last a lifetime.
Absolutely! We will make a high quality digital image – replicating the colour, black and white or sepia toning of the original.
Once the digital images of the original have been created, apart from being printed they can also be archived digitally in different places for peace of mind.
If you bring the whole album in, we can pull the plastic cover back and scan the individual photos you want in situ, to produce digital replicas which you can then both archive and use to have copies done for others.
Definitely. That way we can give you an honest assessment from looking at your originals, an accurate quote for their restoration and we can show you examples of other work we have done. Please call to make an appointment at a time convenient for you. We are centrally located in the Sydney CBD, close to ferry, bus and train transport as well as public parking stations.
Within reason we can work to your deadline, but our preferred turnaround is 10 – 14 days.