Will a soldier at camp, a sweetheart back home or a family in a bombed street still look like themselves after the low resolution is removed?

The prompts keep every face, age and expression in the low-resolution wartime photo as photographed. Where the low-resolution area covered a face, compare the result with other wartime photos and with family memory before you print.

Do I need to scan low-resolution wartime photos?

A flat scan is best, but a phone photo of the low-resolution wartime photo works too; run Photo-of-a-Photo Fixer first to crop and remove glare, then repair the low resolution.

How many credits does a low-resolution wartime photo take?

The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard restoration of low-resolution wartime photos. Pro and Max return more detail on the uniform, the date on the back and the handwriting where the low resolution was heavy; see pricing for the current amounts.

Can I colorize the wartime photo after fixing the low resolution?

Yes. Repair the low-resolution wartime photo first, then run the Photo Colorizer on the result. Colors are inferred from the era and the materials in the repaired low-resolution wartime photos, so type any remembered colors into the hints field.

Wartime Photos

Low-Resolution Wartime Photos

Wartime photos showing blocky pixels, mushy skin and faces the size of a fingernail that fall apart when enlarged have almost always met a tiny contact print, a wallet photo, a heavy crop or a scan made at 72 dpi years ago. The low resolution sits on top of the image of a soldier at camp, a sweetheart back home or a family in a bombed street, which is still there underneath.

Nothing in the wartime photo is redrawn for effect; the low resolution is treated as a layer to remove and the image of a soldier at camp, a sweetheart back home or a family in a bombed street as the thing to keep. If the low-resolution area covered the uniform, the date on the back and the handwriting, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.

Start with Face Restoration on the low-resolution wartime photo, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the wartime photos need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on low-resolution wartime photos.

Open with these settings Face Restoration

Low-Resolution Wartime 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

Low resolution from a tiny contact print, a wallet photo, a heavy crop or a scan made at 72 dpi years ago, on wartime photos from the 1910s to 1940s
Small faces of a soldier at camp, a sweetheart back home or a family in a bombed street that the low resolution has taken the detail from
Low-resolution wartime photos that a copy shop refused to touch
A low-resolution wartime photo needed for a memorial, an anniversary or a reprint

Suggested order of passes

01
Remove the low resolution
Face Restoration targets blocky pixels, mushy skin and faces the size of a fingernail that fall apart when enlarged while keeping the uniform, the date on the back and the handwriting in the wartime photo untouched.
Face Restoration
02
Repair the rest of the wartime photo
Scratch & Tear Repair addresses the usual wear on wartime photos, tiny contact prints, censor marks, folds from being mailed in a letter and fading from a mantelpiece, once the low resolution is gone.
Scratch & Tear Repair
03
Sharpen the faces of a soldier at camp, a sweetheart back home or a family in a bombed street
Recovers the eye and skin detail the low resolution softened; keep it at natural strength on wartime photos unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration
04
Upscale the wartime photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the low resolution repair, with the shape of the low-resolution wartime photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler