AI Photo Restoration

Faded Military Photos

A faded service photo is a common case: dye layers breaking down over decades, faster in warmth and daylight leaves milky shadows, grey whites and a cast that drifts toward orange, magenta or cyan depending on the paper, and military photos from the 1860s to 1970s were rarely stored well enough to escape it.

Faded Photo Fixer is the tool for faded military photos: it targets milky shadows, grey whites and a cast that drifts toward orange, magenta or cyan depending on the paper and leaves the rest of the service photo alone. Output follows the shape of the upload, so the insignia, ribbons, unit patches and cap badge end up where they always were in the faded original.

Scan the faded service photo flat, or photograph it and run Photo-of-a-Photo Fixer first, so the fading is the only thing left to repair. The military photos come back in seconds, and the 4 free credits on sign-up cover the first Standard pass at the fading.

Faded Military Photos, the original print
Faded Military Photos
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

  • The insignia, ribbons, unit patches and cap badge, hidden under the fading
  • Fading from dye layers breaking down over decades, faster in warmth and daylight, on military photos from the 1860s to 1970s
  • Small faces of a serviceman or servicewoman in uniform, often taken just before deployment that the fading has taken the detail from
  • Faded military photos that a copy shop refused to touch

Suggested order of passes

  1. 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 insignia, ribbons, unit patches and cap badge in the service photo untouched.

    Faded Photo Fixer
  2. 02

    Repair the rest of the service photo

    Face Restoration addresses the usual wear on military photos, foxing from a footlocker, folds from a shirt pocket and rank insignia faded into the cloth, once the fading is gone.

    Face Restoration
  3. 03

    Upscale the service photo for reprinting

    Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the fading repair, with the shape of the faded military photos unchanged.

    Image Upscaler

Questions