Church Photos
Water-Damaged Church Photos
Church photos showing brown tide lines, blotches where the emulsion swelled and prints stuck face to face or to the album sleeve have almost always met a flooded basement, a burst pipe, a leaking roof or a damp garage. The water damage sits on top of the image of a congregation on the steps, a robed choir or the church building itself, which is still there underneath.
Nothing in the church photo is redrawn for effect; the water damage is treated as a layer to remove and the image of a congregation on the steps, a robed choir or the church building itself as the thing to keep. If the water-damaged area covered the architecture, the vestments and the steps, the fill is inferred from what survives around it.
Start with Stain & Spot Remover on the water-damaged church photo, then chain Face Restoration or the upscaler in the Studio if the church photos need it. The 4 free credits on a new account cover one Standard run on water-damaged church 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 water-damaged church photo that is the only copy anyone has
- The architecture, the vestments and the steps, hidden under the water damage
- Water damage from a flooded basement, a burst pipe, a leaking roof or a damp garage, on church photos from the 1890s to 1980s
- Small faces of a congregation on the steps, a robed choir or the church building itself that the water damage has taken the detail from
Suggested order of passes
- 01
Remove the water damage
Stain & Spot Remover targets brown tide lines, blotches where the emulsion swelled and prints stuck face to face or to the album sleeve while keeping the architecture, the vestments and the steps in the church photo untouched.
Stain & Spot Remover - 02
Repair the rest of the church photo
Exposure Fixer addresses the usual wear on church photos, dark interiors, stained glass blown to white and a print that hung for years in a damp vestry, once the water damage is gone.
Exposure Fixer - 03
Sharpen the faces of a congregation on the steps, a robed choir or the church building itself
Recovers the eye and skin detail the water damage softened; keep it at natural strength on church photos unless the faces are tiny.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the church photo for reprinting
Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the water damage repair, with the shape of the water-damaged church photos unchanged.
Image Upscaler
This subject, by damage type
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