AI Photo Restoration

Sticky-Album Family Portraits

Family portraits 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 three or four generations posed in a studio or on the front steps, which is still there underneath.

Nothing in the family portrait is redrawn for effect; the album-page residue is treated as a layer to remove and the image of three or four generations posed in a studio or on the front steps as the thing to keep. If the sticky-album area covered every face, the seating order and the clothing, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.

Start with Scratch & Tear Repair on the sticky-album family portrait, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the family portraits need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on sticky-album family portraits.

Sticky-Album Family Portraits, the original print
Sticky-Album Family Portraits
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

  • Yellow stripes of adhesive on the front and back, torn emulsion where the print was peeled off, and a tacky film, spread over a family portrait
  • A sticky-album family portrait that is the only copy anyone has
  • Every face, the seating order and the clothing, 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 family portraits from the 1880s to 1990s

Suggested order of passes

  1. 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 every face, the seating order and the clothing in the family portrait untouched.

    Scratch & Tear Repair
  2. 02

    Repair the rest of the family portrait

    Photo Restoration addresses the usual wear on family portraits, a crack through the middle from a broken frame, silver mirroring in the shadows and a lost corner, once the album-page residue is gone.

    Photo Restoration
  3. 03

    Sharpen the faces of three or four generations posed in a studio or on the front steps

    Recovers the eye and skin detail the album-page residue softened; keep it at natural strength on family portraits unless the faces are tiny.

    Face Restoration
  4. 04

    Upscale the family portrait for reprinting

    Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the album-page residue repair, with the shape of the sticky-album family portraits unchanged.

    Image Upscaler

Questions