Holiday Photos
Cracked Holiday Photos
A cracked holiday 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 holiday photos from the 1950s to 1990s were rarely stored well enough to escape it.
Scratch & Tear Repair is the tool for cracked holiday 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 holiday photo alone. Output follows the shape of the upload, so the decorations, the wrapping paper and the tree lights end up where they always were in the cracked original.
Scan the cracked holiday 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 holiday 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
- A web of fine dark or light lines across the surface, with flakes lifting where the cracks meet, spread over a holiday photo
- A cracked holiday photo that is the only copy anyone has
- The decorations, the wrapping paper and the tree lights, 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 holiday photos from the 1950s to 1990s
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 decorations, the wrapping paper and the tree lights in the holiday photo untouched.
Scratch & Tear Repair - 02
Repair the rest of the holiday photo
Exposure Fixer addresses the usual wear on holiday photos, an orange cast from indoor bulbs, red-eye from the flash and a date stamp in the corner, once the cracked emulsion is gone.
Exposure Fixer - 03
Upscale the holiday photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the cracked emulsion repair, with the shape of the cracked holiday photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler
This subject, by damage type
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