Ancestor Portraits
Fire-Damaged Ancestor Portraits
Ancestor portraits showing charred and curled edges, a brown scorch gradient, soot in the grain and areas lost entirely have almost always met a house fire, a smoke-filled room or a print that sat too close to a heater. The fire damage sits on top of the image of a great-great-grandparent nobody alive ever met, which is still there underneath.
Nothing in the ancestor portrait is redrawn for effect; the fire damage is treated as a layer to remove and the image of a great-great-grandparent nobody alive ever met as the thing to keep. If the fire-damaged area covered the features, the period clothing and the studio props, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.
Start with Photo Restoration on the fire-damaged ancestor portrait, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the ancestor portraits need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on fire-damaged ancestor portraits.
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
- Fire-damaged ancestor portraits that a copy shop refused to touch
- A fire-damaged ancestor portrait needed for a memorial, an anniversary or a reprint
- Charred and curled edges, a brown scorch gradient, soot in the grain and areas lost entirely, spread over a ancestor portrait
- A fire-damaged ancestor portrait that is the only copy anyone has
Suggested order of passes
- 01
Remove the fire damage
Photo Restoration targets charred and curled edges, a brown scorch gradient, soot in the grain and areas lost entirely while keeping the features, the period clothing and the studio props in the ancestor portrait untouched.
Photo Restoration - 02
Repair the rest of the ancestor portrait
Tintype & Daguerreotype Restoration addresses the usual wear on ancestor portraits, silver mirroring, a tarnished tintype surface and cabinet-card mounts that have gone brittle, once the fire damage is gone.
Tintype & Daguerreotype Restoration - 03
Sharpen the faces of a great-great-grandparent nobody alive ever met
Recovers the eye and skin detail the fire damage softened; keep it at natural strength on ancestor portraits unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the ancestor portrait for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the fire damage repair, with the shape of the fire-damaged ancestor portraits unchanged.
Image Upscaler
This subject, by damage type
Questions
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