Will one child in front of a painted studio backdrop, taken each autumn still look like themselves after the fire damage is removed?

The prompts keep every face, age and expression in the fire-damaged school portrait as photographed. Where the fire-damaged area covered a face, compare the result with other school photos and with family memory before you print.

Do I need to scan fire-damaged school photos?

A flat scan is best, but a phone photo of the fire-damaged school portrait works too; run Photo-of-a-Photo Fixer first to crop and remove glare, then repair the fire damage.

How many credits does a fire-damaged school portrait take?

The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard restoration of fire-damaged school photos. Pro and Max return more detail on the backdrop color, the collar and the gap-toothed smile where the fire damage was heavy; see pricing for the current amounts.

Can I colorize the school portrait after fixing the fire damage?

Yes. Repair the fire-damaged school portrait first, then run the Photo Colorizer on the result. Colors are inferred from the era and the materials in the repaired fire-damaged school photos, so type any remembered colors into the hints field.

School Photos

Fire-Damaged School Photos

School photos 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 one child in front of a painted studio backdrop, taken each autumn, which is still there underneath.

Nothing in the school portrait is redrawn for effect; the fire damage is treated as a layer to remove and the image of one child in front of a painted studio backdrop, taken each autumn as the thing to keep. If the fire-damaged area covered the backdrop color, the collar and the gap-toothed smile, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.

Start with Photo Restoration on the fire-damaged school portrait, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the school photos need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on fire-damaged school photos.

Open with these settings Photo Restoration

Fire-Damaged School 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

Fire damage from a house fire, a smoke-filled room or a print that sat too close to a heater, on school photos from the 1940s to 1990s
Small faces of one child in front of a painted studio backdrop, taken each autumn that the fire damage has taken the detail from
Fire-damaged school photos that a copy shop refused to touch
A fire-damaged school portrait needed for a memorial, an anniversary or a reprint

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 backdrop color, the collar and the gap-toothed smile in the school portrait untouched.
Photo Restoration
02
Repair the rest of the school portrait
Faded Photo Fixer addresses the usual wear on school photos, wallet-size prints traded between friends, creased, stuck to album pages and faded to orange, once the fire damage is gone.
Faded Photo Fixer
03
Sharpen the faces of one child in front of a painted studio backdrop, taken each autumn
Recovers the eye and skin detail the fire damage softened; keep it at natural strength on school photos unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration
04
Upscale the school portrait for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the fire damage repair, with the shape of the fire-damaged school photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler