Graduation Photos
Cracked Graduation Photos
A cracked graduation photo is a common case: a print that dried out and stiffened before it was bent, or a plate whose coating crazed with age leaves a web of fine dark or light lines across the surface, with flakes lifting where the cracks meet, and graduation photos from the 1920s to 1990s were rarely stored well enough to escape it.
Scratch & Tear Repair is the tool for cracked graduation photos: it targets a web of fine dark or light lines across the surface, with flakes lifting where the cracks meet and leaves the rest of the graduation photo alone. Output follows the shape of the upload, so the tassel, the diploma and the school crest end up where they always were in the cracked original.
Scan the cracked graduation photo flat, or photograph it and run Photo-of-a-Photo Fixer first, so the cracked emulsion is the only thing left to repair. The graduation photos come back in seconds, and the 4 free credits on sign-up cover the first Standard pass at the cracked emulsion.


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
- The tassel, the diploma and the school crest, hidden under the cracked emulsion
- Cracked emulsion from a print that dried out and stiffened before it was bent, or a plate whose coating crazed with age, on graduation photos from the 1920s to 1990s
- Small faces of the graduate in cap and gown, often with a parent standing just behind that the cracked emulsion has taken the detail from
- Cracked graduation photos that a copy shop refused to touch
Suggested order of passes
- 01
Remove the cracked emulsion
Scratch & Tear Repair targets a web of fine dark or light lines across the surface, with flakes lifting where the cracks meet while keeping the tassel, the diploma and the school crest in the graduation photo untouched.
Scratch & Tear Repair - 02
Repair the rest of the graduation photo
Faded Photo Fixer addresses the usual wear on graduation photos, flash glare on the gown, a curled cardboard mount and the green shift of 1980s color paper, once the cracked emulsion is gone.
Faded Photo Fixer - 03
Upscale the graduation photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the cracked emulsion repair, with the shape of the cracked graduation photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler
This subject, by damage type
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