Moldy Baptism Photos

When mold reaches a baptism photo, the result is fuzzy grey or white patches, brown foxing spots and a musty smell that comes with the print. The cause is nearly always years in a humid attic, a cardboard box on a concrete floor or a plastic sleeve that trapped moisture, and baptism photos kept in albums, frames and boxes were all exposed to it.

The restoration reads the moldy baptism photo as a repair job: it removes the mold and rebuilds what was underneath from the surrounding grain, keeping the gown, the font and the faces of the godparents as photographed. Faces of an infant in a long white gown held by the godparents at the font that were lost to the mold are plausible reconstructions, so compare them with other pictures.

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