WE PRODUCE EXCEPTIONAL
100 or 400 YEAR ARCHIVAL
HARDBOUND BOOKS
Our 11x12 or 12x12 landscape books are archival for 100 or 300 years, depending on the option you choose and have exceptional color quality and elegant design.
THINK ABOUT THIS
What if you could see the photographic history and writings of your ancestors from 1720?
What if you could do this for your family members to live life through your eyes in 2320?
WELL NOW YOU CAN
100 or 400 YEAR ARCHIVAL FAMILY HISTORY BOOKS
Our 400-year archival books are waterproof and long lasting. Each 11x12 book is hand crafted at our Pittsburgh PA facility. These books are printed on museum rag paper with the finest archival inks, coated with a clear waterproof medium and finished with a transparent polyester film that keeps each page durable. Binding is done in-house using a proprietary process that creates a lay flat hardbound book.
Our 100-year archival books are also printed using archival inks and paper, but are priced to be much more affordable with quick turnaround options.
BOOK
PAGE DESIGN
LEFT
Sometimes one image can capture the feel of years of living. One of our philosophies with book design is that bigger is better and less is more.
Here one photograph of my grandmother and great grandmother is printed as an 11x12 sized page on the left hand side of a double-page spread. Versus including many photographs of my grandmother, this one captures dimensions of our family life together by using only one photograph.
BOOK
PAGE DESIGN
RIGHT
One of the most important things we offer in book design is writing more significant stories for you that capture a unique thought or moment in life. In the example here, that writing is placed elegantly on the right hand side of a double-page spread in a book. We have a unique internet screen sharing process to accomplish this with you while you talk about individual photos.
Working with you as writers, our goal is to help you succeed at telling the story of your life by guiding you on the conceptual options for each written page. This creative relationship gives you a chance to end up with a much more meaningful portrait of your life. Books with more significant written stories leave behind a unique intimate in-depth record of important moments in your life for future generations to experience.
OUR SKILLS BELOW
BRING BOOKS AND PRINTS TO LIFE
IT STARTS WITH
SCANNING & COLOR RESTORE
Scanning requires professional skills and decades of experience to deliver exceptional color quality for printed photos and books. We scan each photo or document and spend time to get color and tonal quality just right. Scans can be done on all sizes of slides, negatives, photos and documents. The photo of my little brother and the cowboy was scanned from a 35mm Kodachrome slide at a 16x20 resolution. We're the best at delivering advanced color quality by spending time optimizing each scan.
PROBLEM -
PHOTO CRACKS
This photograph had both cracks and image grit on the soldier's face. The overall tonal quality and color was very good.
RESTORED -
PHOTO CRACKS
A good photograph is restored to original form, with no cracks and smooth and pleasing flesh tones. A 1-hour restore project.
PROBLEM -
COLOR FADING
Severe color fading like this is caused by other items on top of the photograph blocking sunlight over a long period of time. In this case the photo had a book and newspaper on top of it for many years. The color information is still there but needs to be extracted via advanced digital color science techniques.
RESTORED -
COLOR FADING
There were about 25 steps to extracting color and restoring the tonal range of this photograph. Layers are stacked to take dim color information that is then gradually built to a near-original form. The large black areas, where the books were on top, are relatively easy to correct. The most difficult part of this project was to build accurate flesh tones with facial structure and contour. The information is there to do this, but it takes great skill, patients and a lot of time. This project took 6 hours to complete.
PROBLEM -
IMAGE AGING
This is a detail of a much larger photograph that came to us in pieces. The photograph parts were scanned individually then pieced together digitally to match the correct position.
RESTORED -
IMAGE AGING
We then copied similar areas of the photos and cut and pasted to fill in missing areas. For instance, the shutters on the front of the building at the top left were rebuilt by copying the single right hand shutter then flipping it horizontally to begin to create the left hand shutter. This is meticulous work and demands a lot of creative approaches and techniques to complete. Total time on this project was 10 hours.
WE THEN WRITE STORIES
& DESIGN YOUR BOOK
Check out the OUR PROCESS menu tab for more info on how we work with you.
HOLIDAY GIFT CERTIFICATES
HELP FAMILY MEMBERS OR FRIENDS PRESERVE AND ENJOY THEIR HISTORY.
CALL US TO BUY NOW
WE DO ALL
PRODUCTION
AT OUR FACILITY
IN PITTSBURGH PA
SCANNING / RESTORATION / DESIGN / PRINTING / BINDING