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what app for restoring old photos

S

ScottR

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 11, 2007
137
14
I recently scanned hundreds of old family photos, some dating back to the 1920s. I'm not interested in changing them--i.e., no colorizing or removing people/objects. For someone not trained in Photoshop-type image manipulation, what best restores faded colors, image blowout, restores detail from darkened sections, etc.? That is, I'd like to get the photos to how they looked when they were first developed and, if they came out in the best case scenario. Something like even a little of the magic they did in the movie They Shall Not Grow Old, but for images, and not trying to make it look modern.
I'm guessing some AI might be needed.
 
I fear that you will need to educate yourself somewhat in Photoshop-style editing. What you are asking for cannot be done easily, unless there is a "new fangled" AI tool out there that will do it these days ... but most of them I have looked at want something like $100 for you to even TRY them.

GIMP is a free open-source "equivalent" to Photoshop. GIMP is free - Photoshop is most certainly not!

For faded colors, the Levels tool works wonders. For image blowout, nothing short of a miracle (AI perhaps?) can recover it. If the pixels are gone, nothing can bring them back. For details from darkened sections, the Levels tool, the Curves tool and the Dodge tool can all be wonderful. Levels and Dodge are fairly easy to use. The Curves tool can be quite a bit more complex.

There are of course a whole raft of "Photoshop-lite" type applications, such as Pixelmator, and some pretty heavy and complex ones as well, such as DigiKam. All of them will require some basic understanding of what the tools are doing however to get them to produce the results you are looking for.
 
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In the past I have researched my family history and in doing so came upon a lot of black & white photographs. I wanted to scan them to my folder and was given a useful tip;

When scanning old B & W pics use the colour function - not the B & W set up. Apparently in doing so will bring out the "silvery" finish
 
Try PhotoScape (free download, free use).
Open the pic and choose "edit".
Click the "color" panel (doesn't matter that it's a b&w pic).
There's a checkbox for "HDR".
Try that and see how it does.
 
mac57mac57 said:
I fear that you will need to educate yourself somewhat in Photoshop-style editing. What you are asking for cannot be done easily, unless there is a "new fangled" AI tool out there that will do it these days ... but most of them I have looked at want something like $100 for you to even TRY them.

GIMP is a free open-source "equivalent" to Photoshop. GIMP is free - Photoshop is most certainly not!

For faded colors, the Levels tool works wonders. For image blowout, nothing short of a miracle (AI perhaps?) can recover it. If the pixels are gone, nothing can bring them back. For details from darkened sections, the Levels tool, the Curves tool and the Dodge tool can all be wonderful. Levels and Dodge are fairly easy to use. The Curves tool can be quite a bit more complex.

There are of course a whole raft of "Photoshop-lite" type applications, such as Pixelmator, and some pretty heavy and complex ones as well, such as DigiKam. All of them will require some basic understanding of what the tools are doing however to get them to produce the results you are looking for.
Click to expand...

Long ago, I owned Photoshop, and now own non-pro apps (Acorn, Affinity Photo, and others) and I have some familiarity with those tools and have tweaked the photos relatively well with them, but I think I need something beyond the general-purpose apps--that's why I also mentioned AI. I don't mind spending money to buy the app or plugins (so long as I have a chance to try it on 1-2 photos, to be sure it does what I hope it does). I don't know if I've merely reached the limits of my own knowledge or the capabilities of the apps I own, or both, but I've definitely gone as far as I can.
 
@ScottR, the issue with all these new AI apps is that they may work well, they may be absolute rubbish or they may be something in between. No matter what however, they want your dollars upfront before you can even try them out and determine if they are any good.

EVERY new technology goes through a huge hype cycle before settling down, and LOTS of unscrupulous people will try to take advantage of this to fleece you of your money. Consequently, I would (and do) approach all of these new "magic" apps with extreme caution.

One exception - Photoshop 2025 incorporates AI now, and for the things I have tried, it is pretty good. It does not however promise to perfectly restore old, faded and perhaps damaged photos. If Photoshop doesn't do it, that makes me leery of all the apps that claim almost magical results. You know the old saying - if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
 
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