Will a couple cutting a cake decades after their wedding, surrounded by their children still look like themselves after the fading is removed?

The prompts keep every face, age and expression in the faded anniversary photo as photographed. Where the faded area covered a face, compare the result with other anniversary photos and with family memory before you print.

Do I need to scan faded anniversary photos?

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

How many credits does a faded anniversary photo take?

The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard restoration of faded anniversary photos. Pro and Max return more detail on the cake, the banner and the couple's faces where the fading was heavy; see pricing for the current amounts.

Can I colorize the anniversary photo after fixing the fading?

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

Anniversary Photos

Faded Anniversary Photos

Anniversary photos showing milky shadows, grey whites and a cast that drifts toward orange, magenta or cyan depending on the paper have almost always met dye layers breaking down over decades, faster in warmth and daylight. The fading sits on top of the image of a couple cutting a cake decades after their wedding, surrounded by their children, which is still there underneath.

Nothing in the anniversary photo is redrawn for effect; the fading is treated as a layer to remove and the image of a couple cutting a cake decades after their wedding, surrounded by their children as the thing to keep. If the faded area covered the cake, the banner and the couple's faces, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.

Start with Faded Photo Fixer on the faded anniversary photo, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the anniversary photos need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on faded anniversary photos.

Open with these settings Faded Photo Fixer

Faded Anniversary 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

Fading from dye layers breaking down over decades, faster in warmth and daylight, on anniversary photos from the 1950s to 1990s
Small faces of a couple cutting a cake decades after their wedding, surrounded by their children that the fading has taken the detail from
Faded anniversary photos that a copy shop refused to touch
A faded anniversary photo needed for a memorial, an anniversary or a reprint

Suggested order of passes

01
Remove the fading
Faded Photo Fixer targets milky shadows, grey whites and a cast that drifts toward orange, magenta or cyan depending on the paper while keeping the cake, the banner and the couple's faces in the anniversary photo untouched.
Faded Photo Fixer
02
Run a full pass on the anniversary photo
Picks up the remaining scratches, fading and softness on faded anniversary photos after the fading is removed.
Photo Restoration
03
Sharpen the faces of a couple cutting a cake decades after their wedding, surrounded by their children
Recovers the eye and skin detail the fading softened; keep it at natural strength on anniversary photos unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration
04
Upscale the anniversary photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the fading repair, with the shape of the faded anniversary photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler