Prom Photos
Faded Prom Photos
Prom 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 posed under an arch or against a painted backdrop, which is still there underneath.
Nothing in the prom photo is redrawn for effect; the fading is treated as a layer to remove and the image of a couple posed under an arch or against a painted backdrop as the thing to keep. If the faded area covered the corsage, the dress color and the backdrop, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.
Start with Faded Photo Fixer on the faded prom photo, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the prom photos need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on faded prom 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
- Milky shadows, grey whites and a cast that drifts toward orange, magenta or cyan depending on the paper, spread over a prom photo
- A faded prom photo that is the only copy anyone has
- The corsage, the dress color and the backdrop, hidden under the fading
- Fading from dye layers breaking down over decades, faster in warmth and daylight, on prom photos from the 1950s to 1990s
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 corsage, the dress color and the backdrop in the prom photo untouched.
Faded Photo Fixer - 02
Repair the rest of the prom photo
Red-Eye Removal addresses the usual wear on prom photos, a cardboard folder stuck to the print, red-eye from the flash and a heavy magenta shift, once the fading is gone.
Red-Eye Removal - 03
Sharpen the faces of a couple posed under an arch or against a painted backdrop
Recovers the eye and skin detail the fading softened; keep it at natural strength on prom photos unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the prom photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the fading repair, with the shape of the faded prom photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler
This subject, by damage type
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