AI Photo Restoration

Scratched Grandparents Photos

Grandparents photos 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 a grandmother or grandfather, sometimes together, in the only portrait ever taken of them, which is still there underneath.

Nothing in the grandparent photo is redrawn for effect; the scratching is treated as a layer to remove and the image of a grandmother or grandfather, sometimes together, in the only portrait ever taken of them as the thing to keep. If the scratched area covered the expression, the glasses and the hands, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.

Start with Scratch & Tear Repair on the scratched grandparent photo, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the grandparents photos need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on scratched grandparents photos.

Scratched Grandparents Photos, the original print
Scratched Grandparents Photos
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

  • A scratched grandparent photo that is the only copy anyone has
  • The expression, the glasses and the hands, 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 grandparents photos from the 1910s to 1970s
  • Small faces of a grandmother or grandfather, sometimes together, in the only portrait ever taken of them that the scratching has taken the detail from

Suggested order of passes

  1. 01

    Remove the scratching

    Scratch & Tear Repair targets fine white or dark lines across the emulsion, often clustered in one direction while keeping the expression, the glasses and the hands in the grandparent photo untouched.

    Scratch & Tear Repair
  2. 02

    Repair the rest of the grandparent photo

    Face Restoration addresses the usual wear on grandparents photos, the one surviving print handled by every relative, fingerprinted, softly creased and worn at the edges, once the scratching is gone.

    Face Restoration
  3. 03

    Sharpen the faces of a grandmother or grandfather, sometimes together, in the only portrait ever taken of them

    Recovers the eye and skin detail the scratching softened; keep it at natural strength on grandparents photos unless the faces are tiny.

    Face Restoration
  4. 04

    Upscale the grandparent photo for reprinting

    Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the scratching repair, with the shape of the scratched grandparents photos unchanged.

    Image Upscaler

Questions