Improving Scans of Black and White photographs by Recovering the Print Maker's Artistic Intent

Abstract

In this paper we propose a method that reverse engineers the aesthetic decisions made by a print maker to produce a print from a negative, namely cropping, contrast selection, and dodging-and-burning. It then re-applies this process to the electronic negative in order to achieve an electronic version of such print with better tonal range and detail than one produced by scanning the print. We then extend this method to restore a print by combining scans of different versions of the same image.