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Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.
[REV 25-NOV-2014]
Vintage photos of:
Digital Images (Hi-res TIFFs) for Commercial or Private Use
Use this form to contact us about the purchase or use of digital images. (For general inquiries, click here.) Hi-res TIFFs are much larger than even the full-size jpegs used on this web site. File sizes up to 400 mb. Details below. PLEASE NOTE: If an image does not have a BUY PRINT link, it is probably not available for purchase as a digital image.
¶ Our client list includes IBM, Sony Music, HarperCollins Publishing and Wells Fargo Bank.
Non-Commercial Use
If you are a blogger writing about Shorpy, you may use an image from Shorpy to illustrate your blog post. You may only use the small (512 pixels wide) images for this purpose. You may not recreate the entire site, sections, collections or galleries on your server or in any publication. If you use an image from Shorpy you must include a link back to either Shorpy.com, the original post or the full-size version of the image. Do not add Shorpy photos to Flickr or other photo sharing sites.
If you wish to use an image in your blog to illustrate an article that does not discuss Shorpy, please contact us about purchaser or permission.
Commercial Use and Publishing
High-resolution versions of photos are available for use in your projects and print publications. Use the form above to let us know which image(s) you are interested in using. We will work closely with you to make sure you and your clients are completely satisfied.
If you have a specific image in mind, but can't find it on the site, just reach out to us and we can help you with your research.
Each image is extracted from full-resolution scans. We know quality is important, so the work on each image can take several hours, depending on the amount of work that needs to be done to bring detail out of the shadows, suppress overexposed highlights, and remove blemishes caused by dust, scratches and mold. Color images require correction for color cast as well. The before-and-after composites below show the condition of some of these old glass negatives a century after they were exposed, and how they look after a day at the digital restoration spa.
Above: Click here to enlarge and see final version.
Above: A more extreme example. Click here to enlarge.
Above: Underexposed, strong blue color cast.
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