Can blurry photos be repaired at home?

Physically, very little can be done without a conservator, and cleaning a blurry print can make it worse. Digitally, Unblur Old Photos removes the blur from a scan in seconds and the original stays untouched.

Will the repaired blurry photo look retouched?

The prompts ask for a real photographic print of its era, with grain and natural tonality, so the blur repair should read as the same photograph in better condition. Heavily rebuilt areas of a blurry print are inferred, so look them over before printing.

Which tool do I use for blur?

Unblur Old Photos first. If the blurry print also has fading, blur or small faces, chain Faded Photo Fixer, Unblur Old Photos or Face Restoration in the Studio on the result.

How much does fixing a blurry photo cost?

A new account has 4 free credits, enough for one Standard run on a blurry print. Pro and Max use more credits and recover more texture under the blur; the pricing page has the current numbers.

Damage

Fix blurry photos

If a print shows soft edges, doubled outlines on faces and hands, and detail that never resolves however close you look, it is blurry, and the likely history is a slow shutter, a subject who moved, a lens that was never sharp or a camera held by a child. The blur sits on the surface while the image is, for the most part, still underneath.

Unblur Old Photos is the tool built for blurry prints: it removes the blur and rebuilds the area beneath from the surrounding grain and tone. It does not redraw the rest of the photograph, and the output keeps the shape of the blurry upload.

Scan the blurry print flat if you can, or photograph it and run Photo-of-a-Photo Fixer first, so that blur is the only problem left. Chain Face Restoration and the upscaler afterwards in the Studio if the blurry print is going back on a wall.

Open with these settings Unblur Old Photos

OriginalRestored

Original on the left, restored on the right; hover to see more of the repair. Made in the Studio from a scan of the print.

What matters for these photos

Soft edges, doubled outlines on faces and hands, and detail that never resolves however close you look
Blur caused by a slow shutter, a subject who moved, a lens that was never sharp or a camera held by a child
Faces and clothing under the blur that need rebuilding from what survives
Blurry prints that are the only copy in the family

Suggested order of passes

01
Remove the blur
Unblur Old Photos is written for soft edges, doubled outlines on faces and hands, and detail that never resolves however close you look and rebuilds the area beneath from the surrounding image.
Unblur Old Photos
02
Run a full restoration on the blurry print
Picks up the fading, scratches and softness that usually travel with blur.
Photo Restoration
03
Restore the faces
Recovers eye and skin detail where the blur had softened it; use strong only for tiny faces.
Face Restoration
04
Upscale for reprinting
Adds the pixels a reprint of the blurry photo needs, with the shape of the upload unchanged.
Image Upscaler