restoring illegible pencil?

[mariner2]

A friend of mine has some diaries from WW2 written in pencil which has faded badly, is there a way to restore this does anyone know?

[chrisrob]

I don't know if this will work but may be worth a try.
1. Scan them at high resolution into your computer.
2. Using a graphics editor program, increase the contrast.
Good luck.

[heathfield]

1) As Chrisrob says.
2) Use a photocopier and vary the contrast. Try printing as a negative, too.
3) Try an utraviolet light, like those mini ones used to check banknotes.
4) Lay a yellow transparency sheet over the writing.
5) Take a digital photograph and play around with the contrast on a photo editor program.

[beso]

It is probably worth dismantling the book and putting each page in a separate sleeve. It will scan better and avoid further smudging while you work with it.

When scanning the bleed through of the other side of the page can be a problem especially if the paper is thin or low quality. It often helps to put a sheet of black paper behind the page.

Graphics editors usually have a "sharpen" filter. This might be worth trying especially if smudging is part of problem. The pages rubbing together can smudge but you also get smudges from the facing page.

Try using two or more layers in the graphic program. Make the original high resolution scan the background and superimpose semitransparent modified versions on the higher layer. This allows you to do exteme changes to the upper layer which can help hint at the original below.

You could even try making a mirror image negative of the facing page and adding this as a semitransparent layer. It could help remove the smudging caused by the facing page.

Before making it negative set a threshold that makes any pixel lighter than a certain value go transparent. This will take out the clear parts of the page.

This is usually done by a sequence of steps. Some programs have more sophisticated filters than others. Set the threshold to send light pixels fully to whilte then convert whilte to transparent.

Use the layer system with the UV photographed version. Also try polarising filters and or polarised light. Try light from variaous angles.

When using photo rather than a scan you will need a high resolution camera. Set up the camera on a tripod and fix the page in place. This will help with registration of photos taken with different lighting. Note it may be very difficult to register a photo against a scanned image due to differences in perspective.