Low-Resolution Class Photos

When low resolution reaches a class photo, the result is blocky pixels, mushy skin and faces the size of a fingernail that fall apart when enlarged. The cause is nearly always a tiny contact print, a wallet photo, a heavy crop or a scan made at 72 dpi years ago, and class photos kept in albums, frames and boxes were all exposed to it.

The restoration reads the low-resolution class photo as a repair job: it removes the low resolution and rebuilds what was underneath from the surrounding grain, keeping each child's face, the name board and the teacher as photographed. Faces of thirty children in rows with the teacher standing at the side that were lost to the low resolution are plausible reconstructions, so compare them with other pictures.

For low-resolution class photos the order is low resolution first, faces second, upscale last, each step taking the previous result. Standard suits a class photo for a screen; Pro or Max gives a low-resolution print more detail for reprinting.