Will a whole family, club or congregation arranged in rows still look like themselves after the staining is removed?

The prompts keep every face, age and expression in the stained group photo as photographed. Where the stained area covered a face, compare the result with other group photos and with family memory before you print.

Do I need to scan stained group photos?

A flat scan is best, but a phone photo of the stained group photo works too; run Photo-of-a-Photo Fixer first to crop and remove glare, then repair the staining.

How many credits does a stained group photo take?

The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard restoration of stained group photos. Pro and Max return more detail on every face, the row order and the banner where the staining was heavy; see pricing for the current amounts.

Can I colorize the group photo after fixing the staining?

Yes. Repair the stained group photo first, then run the Photo Colorizer on the result. Colors are inferred from the era and the materials in the repaired stained group photos, so type any remembered colors into the hints field.

Group Photos

Stained Group Photos

When staining reaches a group photo, the result is brown or grey blotches with hard edges, sometimes a ring, sometimes a smear across the sky. The cause is nearly always coffee, ink, adhesive, fingerprints and whatever else was on the kitchen table that day, and group photos kept in albums, frames and boxes were all exposed to it.

The restoration reads the stained group photo as a repair job: it removes the staining and rebuilds what was underneath from the surrounding grain, keeping every face, the row order and the banner as photographed. Faces of a whole family, club or congregation arranged in rows that were lost to the staining are plausible reconstructions, so compare them with other pictures.

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

Open with these settings Stain & Spot Remover

Stained Group Photos, the original print

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 stained group photo that is the only copy anyone has
Every face, the row order and the banner, hidden under the staining
Staining from coffee, ink, adhesive, fingerprints and whatever else was on the kitchen table that day, on group photos from the 1900s to 1990s
Small faces of a whole family, club or congregation arranged in rows that the staining has taken the detail from

Suggested order of passes

01
Remove the staining
Stain & Spot Remover targets brown or grey blotches with hard edges, sometimes a ring, sometimes a smear across the sky while keeping every face, the row order and the banner in the group photo untouched.
Stain & Spot Remover
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 staining is gone.
Face Restoration
03
Upscale the group photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the staining repair, with the shape of the stained group photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler