Family Portraits
Sun-Bleached Family Portraits
Family portraits showing a washed-out image with almost no contrast, sometimes with a darker stripe where the mat protected it have almost always met a frame on a sunny wall or a windowsill, where ultraviolet light broke the dyes down year after year. The sun bleaching 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 sun bleaching 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 sun-bleached area covered every face, the seating order and the clothing, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.
Start with Faded Photo Fixer on the sun-bleached 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 sun-bleached family portraits.


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
- Sun-bleached family portraits that a copy shop refused to touch
- A sun-bleached family portrait needed for a memorial, an anniversary or a reprint
- A washed-out image with almost no contrast, sometimes with a darker stripe where the mat protected it, spread over a family portrait
- A sun-bleached family portrait that is the only copy anyone has
Suggested order of passes
- 01
Remove the sun bleaching
Faded Photo Fixer targets a washed-out image with almost no contrast, sometimes with a darker stripe where the mat protected it while keeping every face, the seating order and the clothing in the family portrait untouched.
Faded Photo Fixer - 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 sun bleaching is gone.
Photo Restoration - 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 sun bleaching softened; keep it at natural strength on family portraits unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the family portrait for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the sun bleaching repair, with the shape of the sun-bleached family portraits unchanged.
Image Upscaler
This subject, by damage type
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