Birthday Photos
Sticky-Album Birthday Photos
Birthday photos showing yellow stripes of adhesive on the front and back, torn emulsion where the print was peeled off, and a tacky film have almost always met the self-adhesive magnetic albums sold from the 1970s onward, whose glue yellows and bonds to the print. The album-page residue sits on top of the image of a child leaning over a cake with the candles lit, which is still there underneath.
Nothing in the birthday photo is redrawn for effect; the album-page residue is treated as a layer to remove and the image of a child leaning over a cake with the candles lit as the thing to keep. If the sticky-album area covered the cake, the candles and the party hats, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.
Start with Scratch & Tear Repair on the sticky-album birthday photo, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the birthday photos need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on sticky-album birthday 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
- A sticky-album birthday photo that is the only copy anyone has
- The cake, the candles and the party hats, hidden under the album-page residue
- Album-page residue from the self-adhesive magnetic albums sold from the 1970s onward, whose glue yellows and bonds to the print, on birthday photos from the 1950s to 1990s
- Small faces of a child leaning over a cake with the candles lit that the album-page residue has taken the detail from
Suggested order of passes
- 01
Remove the album-page residue
Scratch & Tear Repair targets yellow stripes of adhesive on the front and back, torn emulsion where the print was peeled off, and a tacky film while keeping the cake, the candles and the party hats in the birthday photo untouched.
Scratch & Tear Repair - 02
Repair the rest of the birthday photo
Exposure Fixer addresses the usual wear on birthday photos, candlelight underexposed to near black, a yellow date stamp and an edge curled by a sticky album, once the album-page residue is gone.
Exposure Fixer - 03
Sharpen the faces of a child leaning over a cake with the candles lit
Recovers the eye and skin detail the album-page residue softened; keep it at natural strength on birthday photos unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the birthday photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the album-page residue repair, with the shape of the sticky-album birthday photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler
This subject, by damage type
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