Do I need to scan cracked vacation photos?

A flat scan is best, but a phone photo of the cracked vacation photo works too; run Photo-of-a-Photo Fixer first to crop and remove glare, then repair the cracked emulsion.

How many credits does a cracked vacation photo take?

The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard restoration of cracked vacation photos. Pro and Max return more detail on the landmark, the car and the swimsuits where the cracked emulsion was heavy; see pricing for the current amounts.

Can I colorize the vacation photo after fixing the cracked emulsion?

Yes. Repair the cracked vacation photo first, then run the Photo Colorizer on the result. Colors are inferred from the era and the materials in the repaired cracked vacation photos, so type any remembered colors into the hints field.

What if the cracked emulsion took part of the vacation photo away entirely?

Run Missing Parts Filler after Scratch & Tear Repair and describe the gap the cracked emulsion left in the vacation photo. It continues the scene, clothing and background of the vacation photo from what survives; a face fully gone from cracked vacation photos cannot be recovered, only inferred.

Vacation Photos

Cracked Vacation Photos

Vacation photos showing a web of fine dark or light lines across the surface, with flakes lifting where the cracks meet have almost always met a print that dried out and stiffened before it was bent, or a plate whose coating crazed with age. The cracked emulsion sits on top of the image of parents and children squinting in front of a landmark, a beach or the car, which is still there underneath.

Nothing in the vacation photo is redrawn for effect; the cracked emulsion is treated as a layer to remove and the image of parents and children squinting in front of a landmark, a beach or the car as the thing to keep. If the cracked area covered the landmark, the car and the swimsuits, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.

Start with Scratch & Tear Repair on the cracked vacation photo, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the vacation photos need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on cracked vacation photos.

Open with these settings Scratch & Tear Repair

Cracked Vacation Photos, the original print

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

A cracked vacation photo that is the only copy anyone has
The landmark, the car and the swimsuits, 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 vacation photos from the 1950s to 1990s
Small faces of parents and children squinting in front of a landmark, a beach or the car that the cracked emulsion has taken the detail from

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 landmark, the car and the swimsuits in the vacation photo untouched.
Scratch & Tear Repair
02
Repair the rest of the vacation photo
Faded Photo Fixer addresses the usual wear on vacation photos, sun-bleached skies, a cyan cast from a hot glovebox and scratches from loose storage in an envelope, once the cracked emulsion is gone.
Faded Photo Fixer
03
Sharpen the faces of parents and children squinting in front of a landmark, a beach or the car
Recovers the eye and skin detail the cracked emulsion softened; keep it at natural strength on vacation photos unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration
04
Upscale the vacation photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the cracked emulsion repair, with the shape of the cracked vacation photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler