Water-Damaged Farm Photos

When water damage reaches a farm photo, the result is brown tide lines, blotches where the emulsion swelled and prints stuck face to face or to the album sleeve. The cause is nearly always a flooded basement, a burst pipe, a leaking roof or a damp garage, and farm photos kept in albums, frames and boxes were all exposed to it.

The restoration reads the water-damaged farm photo as a repair job: it removes the water damage and rebuilds what was underneath from the surrounding grain, keeping the barn, the equipment and the animals as photographed. Faces of the family in front of the barn, with horses, a tractor or a loaded wagon that were lost to the water damage are plausible reconstructions, so compare them with other pictures.

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