How many credits does a moldy wartime photo take?

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

Can I colorize the wartime photo after fixing the mold?

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

What if the mold took part of the wartime photo away entirely?

Run Missing Parts Filler after Stain & Spot Remover and describe the gap the mold left in the wartime photo. It continues the scene, clothing and background of the wartime photo from what survives; a face fully gone from moldy wartime photos cannot be recovered, only inferred.

Does restoring a moldy wartime photo change its shape or crop?

No. The output follows the shape of the upload, so wartime photos come back at the same proportions with the mold removed and the uniform, the date on the back and the handwriting in place. Upscale afterwards for a larger reprint.

Wartime Photos

Moldy Wartime Photos

Wartime photos showing fuzzy grey or white patches, brown foxing spots and a musty smell that comes with the print have almost always met years in a humid attic, a cardboard box on a concrete floor or a plastic sleeve that trapped moisture. The mold 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 mold 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 moldy area covered the uniform, the date on the back and the handwriting, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.

Start with Stain & Spot Remover on the moldy 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 moldy wartime photos.

Open with these settings Stain & Spot Remover

Moldy 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

The uniform, the date on the back and the handwriting, hidden under the mold
Mold from years in a humid attic, a cardboard box on a concrete floor or a plastic sleeve that trapped moisture, 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 mold has taken the detail from
Moldy wartime photos that a copy shop refused to touch

Suggested order of passes

01
Remove the mold
Stain & Spot Remover targets fuzzy grey or white patches, brown foxing spots and a musty smell that comes with the print while keeping the uniform, the date on the back and the handwriting in the wartime photo untouched.
Stain & Spot Remover
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 mold 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 mold 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 mold repair, with the shape of the moldy wartime photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler