Formats
Polaroid restoration
A Polaroid is an instant print developed inside its own pod of chemistry, with the familiar white frame on SX-70, 600 and Spectra film. Peel-apart pack film came first, in 1963, and the integral print with nothing to peel arrived in 1972.
The dyes shift toward yellow, orange or green, the image goes soft, and the chemistry pod at the bottom edge leaves cracks and blotches; peel-apart prints fade fastest of all. Most of what goes wrong with a polaroid is on the surface, and the image underneath is usually recoverable from a good scan.
Start with Polaroid Restoration for the polaroid, then add Scratch & Tear Repair or Stain & Spot Remover for anything it leaves behind. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard pass on a polaroid.
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.
Print and file requirements
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Years in use | 1948 onward; integral film from 1972 |
| Typical size | 3.5 x 4.2 in (SX-70 and 600); 4 x 4.1 in (Spectra) |
| Process | Integral instant film; dyes diffuse to the image layer inside the sealed frame |
| Image area | 3.1 x 3.1 in on SX-70 and 600 film |
| How it fails | Dye fade, yellow or green cast, cracked chemistry, blotches along the pod edge |
| Scan tip | Scan the whole frame flat and never peel the layers apart |
What matters for these photos
- Dye fade, yellow or green cast, cracked chemistry, blotches along the pod edge on a polaroid
- A polaroid scanned once, badly, and never touched again
- Faces on a polaroid that are too small or too soft to enlarge
- A reprint of the polaroid for a frame, needing more pixels than the scan has
Suggested order of passes
- 01
Run Polaroid Restoration on the polaroid
Written for the way a polaroid fails: dye fade, yellow or green cast, cracked chemistry, blotches along the pod edge.
Polaroid Restoration - 02
Clean up the polaroid scan
Removes scanner dust, borders and the color cast a flatbed adds to a polaroid, and straightens it.
Scan Cleanup - 03
Restore the faces on the polaroid
Recovers eye and skin detail at natural strength; small faces on a polaroid are plausible reconstructions.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the polaroid for reprinting
A polaroid is small to begin with; the upscaler adds the pixels a frame-sized print needs.
Image Upscaler
Questions
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