Photo restoration is the art of restoring, preserving, and improving the original details of old and damaged photos. Here are 10 examples of old photos that were repaired with a balance between originality and artistic touch-ups.
All these photos were taken at different times and in different countries and have stories that were captured at the moment.
#1
An album photo of a US soldier. As well all know the army is the place where you are forced to like everyone, and any show of your personality is restricted.
It just happened that this man's favorite color was pink, but he never had a chance to wear it since it was prohibited by strict rules in the army.
So, in addition to repairing and coloring this photo, he asked to make his tie pink, although it was originally light blue, just to make it possible, at least in the photos. This make is very wholesome photo from a military.
12points
#2
This picture is from my own family album. Here is my grandfather, who just recently got promoted to work in Siberia in the field of oil and gas provisioning.
The photo was stored neglectfully in a box instead of an album, and because of that, it had turned out to have some scratches, cracks, and the so-called "Terminator Eye".
After long hours of work, I was able to restore the photo to look like it was taken yesterday!
11points
#3
Photograph of a young man who just got promoted on the day of this photoshoot for a military album, and that shows up!
Sadly, the photo lost its original colors and was later severely stained by the ink, but thankfully, it was possible to restore it!
11points
#4
This old photo shows a woman who was servicing the royal family in the UK in the first part of the 20th century.
Given how old and neglected this picture was, it was hard to find at least some details. Restoration of this photo took a significant amount of time and effort, and although it is impossible to make it 100% accurate, I did everything in order to make sure it looks natural.
11points
#5
The couple, who had been happily married for 5 years, decided to get a portrait photo to forever remember this moment.
When they decided to look at the image a few years later, they sadly discovered that their precious photo was damaged and smudged.
Even though this damaged photo now looks like it can only be thrown away, they still decided to try a photo restoration, and that's what they received.
9points
#6
This picture was a part of the photo session on nature that happened in the last years of the Vietnam War.
The image originally had a strong texture and was faded, but it was successfully restored and accurately colorized using information from a client and reference photos of the woman and her dress.
9points
#7
Just a photo from a school graduation album from the mid-1950s.
Because of some camera issues, all the photos in the album turned out blurry. Decades later, this photo finally got its color and sharpness back.
9points
#8
Just a regular portrait photo of a young woman. Instead of a photo album, pictures were stored in a box, where they were just stacked on top of each other. Because of this, this photo has a lot of cracks and scratches.
Nonetheless, the photo was still fixed to look just like a new one while still keeping this vintage feel.
8points
#9
A family photo that was captured in Japan a few years before the family moved to the United States. Since migration is never easy, they had a limited number of items that they could have brought with them.
This photo was one of a few that they brought with them to the US. As you can see, it didn't age very well for multiple reasons, but it was still possible to restore and colorize it to look awesome!
8points
#10
Just a regular passport photo of a woman. Other copies of these photos were lost, so this photo was all that was left.
If you ignore these two holes, this photo didn't have much damage in other areas, so restoring and enhancing details here was an easy fix.
6points