Formats
Yearbook restoration
A yearbook photo is a halftone-printed page: the studio portrait was screened into a grid of dots for the press. For many school photos the printed page is the only copy that survives.
The dot screen turns to moire when scanned, the paper yellows and foxes, ink bleeds into the page and the spine crushes the inner margin. None of this is reversible on the yearbook itself, which is why the repair happens on a scan while the original goes back into a cool, dry box.
Run Newspaper & Yearbook Photo Restoration on the yearbook scan first, then decide whether the result needs a second pass for faces or grain. A yearbook restored at Pro or Max holds up better as a large reprint.
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 | 1880s onward |
| Typical size | Portraits 1 to 2 in tall on an 8.5 x 11 in or 9 x 12 in page |
| Process | Offset or letterpress halftone, 85 to 150 lines per inch |
| Appearance | Visible dot pattern, black ink on cream paper, printed caption |
| How it fails | Moire on scan, yellowed paper, foxing, ink bleed |
| Scan tip | Scan at 600 dpi with the scanner's descreen option off; the tool removes the dots |
What matters for these photos
- Moire on scan, yellowed paper, foxing, ink bleed on a yearbook
- A yearbook scanned once, badly, and never touched again
- Faces on a yearbook that are too small or too soft to enlarge
- A reprint of the yearbook for a frame, needing more pixels than the scan has
Suggested order of passes
- 01
Run Newspaper & Yearbook Photo Restoration on the yearbook
Written for the way a yearbook fails: moire on scan, yellowed paper, foxing, ink bleed.
Newspaper & Yearbook Photo Restoration - 02
Clean up the yearbook scan
Removes scanner dust, borders and the color cast a flatbed adds to a yearbook, and straightens it.
Scan Cleanup - 03
Restore the faces on the yearbook
Recovers eye and skin detail at natural strength; small faces on a yearbook are plausible reconstructions.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the yearbook for reprinting
A yearbook is small to begin with; the upscaler adds the pixels a frame-sized print needs.
Image Upscaler
Questions
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