Group Photos
Scratched Group Photos
Group 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 whole family, club or congregation arranged in rows, which is still there underneath.
Nothing in the group photo is redrawn for effect; the scratching is treated as a layer to remove and the image of a whole family, club or congregation arranged in rows as the thing to keep. If the scratched area covered every face, the row order and the banner, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.
Start with Scratch & Tear Repair on the scratched group photo, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the group photos need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on scratched group photos.
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
- Every face, the row order and the banner, 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 group photos from the 1900s to 1990s
- Small faces of a whole family, club or congregation arranged in rows that the scratching has taken the detail from
- Scratched group photos that a copy shop refused to touch
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 row order and the banner in the group photo untouched.
Scratch & Tear Repair - 02
Repair the rest of the group photo
Face Restoration addresses the usual wear on group photos, small faces, a fold through the middle row and one person half lost to a tear, once the scratching is gone.
Face Restoration - 03
Sharpen the faces of a whole family, club or congregation arranged in rows
Recovers the eye and skin detail the scratching softened; keep it at natural strength on group photos unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the group photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the scratching repair, with the shape of the scratched group photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler
This subject, by damage type
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