On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 2:04 PM, Michel Vuijlsteke <[email protected]> wrote: > 2009/9/17 Durova <[email protected]> > >> The Louis Brandeis restoration was 20 hours' labor. Extensive staining and >> chemical damage required careful reconstruction including large portions of >> his face. It is, likewise, shocking to encounter a senior editor--an >> arbitrator no less--who calmly presumes such work entails no creative input >> and no share of authorship. > > I personally think image restoration is more like painting by numbers than > creative work. > > It's like "creating" an Ikea bookcase: there is some *skill* involved but no > artistic or creative input. And if it's done properly, there's no way of > telling who did assembled the bookcase, or indeed restored the image.
There is a lot more skill than 'painting by numbers' involved. One way to tell is to look at the market for such skills. Look at the salaries paid to a painter and to a skilled image restorer. Even if you can't do that, then the time involved is the clincher. It may not be strictly speaking creative, but it does deserve recognition. For example, writing some Wikipedia articles can be formulaic and done "by the numbers". But you don't see people saying this is not creative or skilful. And in any cases, some aspects of restoration *are* creative (mainly the ones that involve filling in missing material), but those can be controversial. See this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation-restoration In particular: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation-restoration#Preventive_Conservation And also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_restoration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photograph_conservation There has long been a debate between conservation and restoration. Is it better to conserve something, or to restore it? In the case of digital photos, you can do digital restoration, while the original has conservation techniques applied to it, as Durova or someone has mentioned before. Carcharoth _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
