Family Portraits
Scratched Family Portraits
Family portraits showing fine white or dark lines across the emulsion, often clustered in one direction have almost always met loose storage in a shoebox, a drawer shared with keys and coins, or a print dragged across scanner glass. The scratching sits on top of the image of three or four generations posed in a studio or on the front steps, which is still there underneath.
Nothing in the family portrait is redrawn for effect; the scratching is treated as a layer to remove and the image of three or four generations posed in a studio or on the front steps as the thing to keep. If the scratched area covered every face, the seating order and the clothing, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.
Start with Scratch & Tear Repair on the scratched family portrait, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the family portraits need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on scratched family portraits.
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
- A scratched family portrait that is the only copy anyone has
- Every face, the seating order and the clothing, hidden under the scratching
- Scratching from loose storage in a shoebox, a drawer shared with keys and coins, or a print dragged across scanner glass, on family portraits from the 1880s to 1990s
- Small faces of three or four generations posed in a studio or on the front steps that the scratching has taken the detail from
Suggested order of passes
- 01
Remove the scratching
Scratch & Tear Repair targets fine white or dark lines across the emulsion, often clustered in one direction while keeping every face, the seating order and the clothing in the family portrait untouched.
Scratch & Tear Repair - 02
Repair the rest of the family portrait
Photo Restoration addresses the usual wear on family portraits, a crack through the middle from a broken frame, silver mirroring in the shadows and a lost corner, once the scratching is gone.
Photo Restoration - 03
Sharpen the faces of three or four generations posed in a studio or on the front steps
Recovers the eye and skin detail the scratching softened; keep it at natural strength on family portraits unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the family portrait for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the scratching repair, with the shape of the scratched family portraits unchanged.
Image Upscaler
This subject, by damage type
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