Holiday Photos
Faded Holiday Photos
Holiday 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 the family around the tree, the table or the menorah, which is still there underneath.
Nothing in the holiday photo is redrawn for effect; the fading is treated as a layer to remove and the image of the family around the tree, the table or the menorah as the thing to keep. If the faded area covered the decorations, the wrapping paper and the tree lights, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.
Start with Faded Photo Fixer on the faded holiday photo, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the holiday photos need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on faded holiday photos.
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
- Faded holiday photos that a copy shop refused to touch
- A faded holiday photo needed for a memorial, an anniversary or a reprint
- Milky shadows, grey whites and a cast that drifts toward orange, magenta or cyan depending on the paper, spread over a holiday photo
- A faded holiday photo that is the only copy anyone has
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 decorations, the wrapping paper and the tree lights in the holiday photo untouched.
Faded Photo Fixer - 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 fading is gone.
Exposure Fixer - 03
Sharpen the faces of the family around the tree, the table or the menorah
Recovers the eye and skin detail the fading softened; keep it at natural strength on holiday photos unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the holiday photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the fading repair, with the shape of the faded holiday photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler
This subject, by damage type
Questions
Related guides