Moldy Farm Photos

When mold reaches a farm 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 farm photos kept in albums, frames and boxes were all exposed to it.

The restoration reads the moldy farm photo as a repair job: it removes the mold and rebuilds what was underneath from the surrounding grain, keeping the barn, the equipment and the animals as photographed. Faces of the family in front of the barn, with horses, a tractor or a loaded wagon that were lost to the mold are plausible reconstructions, so compare them with other pictures.

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