Scratched First Communion Photos

When scratching reaches a communion photo, the result is fine white or dark lines across the emulsion, often clustered in one direction. The cause is nearly always loose storage in a shoebox, a drawer shared with keys and coins, or a print dragged across scanner glass, and first communion photos kept in albums, frames and boxes were all exposed to it.

The restoration reads the scratched communion photo as a repair job: it removes the scratching and rebuilds what was underneath from the surrounding grain, keeping the veil, the candle and the folded hands as photographed. Faces of a child in white holding a candle, a rosary or a prayer book that were lost to the scratching are plausible reconstructions, so compare them with other pictures.

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