Military Photos
Scratched Military Photos
Military 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 serviceman or servicewoman in uniform, often taken just before deployment, which is still there underneath.
Nothing in the service photo is redrawn for effect; the scratching is treated as a layer to remove and the image of a serviceman or servicewoman in uniform, often taken just before deployment as the thing to keep. If the scratched area covered the insignia, ribbons, unit patches and cap badge, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.
Start with Scratch & Tear Repair on the scratched service photo, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the military photos need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on scratched military 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
- Scratching from loose storage in a shoebox, a drawer shared with keys and coins, or a print dragged across scanner glass, on military photos from the 1860s to 1970s
- Small faces of a serviceman or servicewoman in uniform, often taken just before deployment that the scratching has taken the detail from
- Scratched military photos that a copy shop refused to touch
- A scratched service photo needed for a memorial, an anniversary or a reprint
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 the insignia, ribbons, unit patches and cap badge in the service photo untouched.
Scratch & Tear Repair - 02
Repair the rest of the service photo
Face Restoration addresses the usual wear on military photos, foxing from a footlocker, folds from a shirt pocket and rank insignia faded into the cloth, once the scratching is gone.
Face Restoration - 03
Sharpen the faces of a serviceman or servicewoman in uniform, often taken just before deployment
Recovers the eye and skin detail the scratching softened; keep it at natural strength on military photos unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the service photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the scratching repair, with the shape of the scratched military photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler
This subject, by damage type
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