Do I need a scanner, or can I use my phone?

Ideally, use a flatbed scanner at 600 DPI for the best possible results. However, high-quality smartphone cameras (especially when used with scanning apps like Google PhotoScan to reduce glare) can produce very good results for most family albums.

Will the restored photo look 'fake'?

It shouldn't. Good restoration aims for authenticity, recovering detail that was lost rather than inventing new things. However, if a photo is extremely blurry, AI might smooth skin textures more than a traditional photo. You can always adjust the intensity or blend it with the original if you prefer a grittier look.

Is it safe to upload my private family photos?

Yes. At PhotoRefix, we prioritize privacy. Your images are processed securely and are not stored permanently or used to train public models. They are your memories, and they stay yours.

Can this fix water damage?

It depends. If the water damage has just caused discoloration or staining, yes, often quite well. If the water has physically washed away the ink or emulsion so the image is gone, the AI cannot bring it back.

How big can I print the result?

This is one of the best parts of AI restoration. Because the process often includes upscaling (increasing resolution), you can often print restored photos much larger than the originals—sometimes up to poster size—without pixelation.

Restoring Old Family Photos Guide

There's a special kind of magic in an old shoebox full of family photos. The black-and-white wedding portrait of your grandparents, the sepia-toned snapshot of your dad as a toddler, or that faded Polaroid from a 1980s family reunion. These aren't just pieces of paper; they are your history, your tangible connection to the people who made you who you are.

But time is relentless. Every year, these physical treasures deteriorate a little more. Colors shift to orange, details soften, corners crack, and silverfish or humidity take their toll.

For a long time, saving these photos meant hiring expensive professional archivists or spending countless hours mastering complex software like Photoshop. Today, that has changed completely.

Why Old Photos Fall Apart

To save your photos, it helps to understand what's attacking them. It's usually a combination of three enemies:

Chemical Breakdown: The dyes and chemicals used in old film and prints aren't stable. Over decades, they oxidize and break down, causing that familiar yellowing or fading.

Environmental Stress: Sunlight (UV radiation) is the biggest killer, bleaching images rapidly. Humidity creates mold or causes photos to stick to glass, while heat accelerates chemical decay.

Physical Wear: Every time a photo is handled, passed around, or moved, it risks scratches, creases, and tears.

The New Way to Restore Memories

In the past, restoring a damaged photo was an art form. A specialist would scan the image and painstakingly "paint" over scratches, rebuild missing faces pixel by pixel, and guess at the original colors. It was slow, expensive ($50–$100 per photo), and reserved for only the most valuable heirlooms.

Enter AI Restoration.

Modern AI doesn't just "blur" or "sharpen" blindly. It uses deep learning models trained on millions of historical images to understand what a photo should look like. It can:

Recognize Context: It knows the difference between a scratch and a wrinkle on a face.
Reconstruct Details: It can infer natural skin textures and clothing details that have faded away.
Restore Contrast: It can recover the original depth and range of tones that time has flattened.

I've tested this extensively, and the tool we've built at PhotoRefix is designed specifically to handle these common "old photo" problems in one go.

Step-by-Step: How to Restore Your Photos

Restoring photos is a two-part process. The AI does the heavy lifting, but the quality of your input determines the quality of the output.

Step 1: The Scan (Crucial!)

You cannot get a great result from a bad photo of a photo. If you take a shaky picture of an old print with your phone under yellow living room lights, the AI will struggle to separate the original grain from your phone's noise.

Best Practice:

Use a Flatbed Scanner: If you have one, scan at 600 DPI (dots per inch) or higher. This captures the grain and texture of the paper, which helps the AI work better.
Phone Scanning App: If you must use a phone, use an app like Google PhotoScan. It stitches multiple angles together to remove glare.
Lighting: If just taking a regular photo, place the print near a window with indirect natural light. Avoid direct sun (glare) and lamps (color casts).

Step 2: The Restoration

Once you have a digital file, the process is simple:

Upload to PhotoRefix.
Let the AI Analyze: The system detects faces and scratches automatically.
Compare Results: Use the slider to see the difference. You'll usually see faces snap into focus and noise disappear.

Pro Tip: For photos with severe scratches and blur, it's often best to run the tool once to fix the details/blur. If significant scratches remain, specialized "scratch removal" tools (or a quick manual touch-up) can be used before a final pass.

What Can (and Can't) Be Fixed

It's important to be realistic. AI is powerful, but it's not a time machine.

What Fixes Beautifully:

General Softness/Blur: Old cameras often had soft focus; AI is incredible at correcting this.
Fading: Contrast and definition can be brought back instantly.
Noise/Grain: Film grain can be reduced while keeping the "feel" of the photo.
Small Scratches: Minor dust and scratches are easily removed.

What is Difficult:

Missing Faces: If a face is torn off or completely obliterated by a stain, AI can't guess who that person was. It might generate a generic face, but it won't be your ancestor.
Severe Texture Damage: If the paper has a heavy honeycomb texture (common in 70s prints), it can be hard to remove completely without smoothing the image too much.

Why This Matters

I recently restored a photo of my father from the 1960s. It wasn't for a blog post or a portfolio—it was just for him. When he saw the restored version, where he could clearly see the pattern on his mother's dress and the expression on her face, he didn't say "wow, great tech." He just got quiet and smiled.

That's the point. We don't restore photos to make them perfect; we restore them to make the memories accessible again. We do it to bridge the gap between generations and say, "This is where we came from."

Don't let your family history fade away in a box. Take an afternoon, scan those favorites, and bring them back to the light.

Restoring Old Family Photos Guide