One of my most cherished childhood memories is sitting with family and looking at old family photos. I was too young to remember seeing my grandfather, but I know him because I have seen photos of him in our family photo albums. Everyone has old family photos they cherish.
However, those old photos might become weathered, faded, and even damaged due to mishandling and abuse. In such cases, you need photo repair tools. Photo repair tools, like other tools such as word repair tools, excel repair tools, pdf repair tools, are special software designed to repair and restore old family photographs. And you can restore old family photos yourself at the click of a button!
Part I: About The Fine Art of Photo Restoration
Now, if you thought it takes a professional with years of experience to restore old photos, you would be right. It does take a professional to restore old photos, but what you might not know is that today, technology has become so advanced that we are able to bring a professional photo restoration service right into your computer thanks to photo restoration software.
What Is a Photo Restoration Software?
Think of photo restoration software as your very own professional photo restoration service coming to your home and fixing your photos up without you having to go anywhere!
A photo restoration software is designed and developed to restore, retouch and repair old family photos with precision and accuracy, using algorithms and cutting-edge techniques such as generative artificial intelligence that now powers some of the best photo restoration software around, giving you unprecedented results.
What Does a Photo Restoration Software Do?
It can look like magic when a photo restoration software is able to fix your photos in an instant. You might be curious about what a photo restoration software does. Here is what a photo restoration software achieves.
Brings Back Colors
The reason old photos look old is because of deterioration and loss. The first culprit is photographic ink, that, like everything else, has a shelf life. So, when left to the elements, ink fades, and colors lose their sheen, and the photos start losing details and their vividity. A photo restorer tool recolors photos to bring that pop back.
Restores Lost Details
With the loss of colors, coupled with yellowing of paper due to deterioration, the photographs lose their details for the human eye. However, with technology, those details can be restored with precision and accuracy.
Part II: Wondershare Repairit: Restore and Recolor Family Photos in One Click
Wondershare has made its name designing and developing software that is easy to use but loaded with features. Wondershare brings complex technological advances into everyone’s hands for intuitive use. Repairit is one such Wondershare product that embodies the hallmark Wondershare philosophy.
On the face of it, it looks like a file repair software. Well, it is a file repair software. But the proverb says, “Devil is in the details,” and it applies to Wondershare Repairit. Here is how Repairit is different from other file repair tools in the market.
How Is Wondershare Repairit Different?
Wondershare Repairit is the ultimate file repair tool. You can use it to repair any kind of file. However, it is not a catch-all basket for repairing files of any kind. Wondershare Repairit has specific modes dedicated and fine-tuned to repair specific types of files, to give the best possible results to its users, thereby increasing satisfaction levels.
In the same Repairit, there are modes for photo repair, video repair, audio file repair, etc., and there is one specific mode we will be using today – the Old Photo Restoration & Colorizer mode that is now powered by artificial intelligence for never-before levels of precision and accuracy in photo repair and restoration.
- Intuitive user interface.
- Can repair corrupt photos.
- Support for nearly all image (and file) formats.
- Support for macOS and Windows.
- Has a cloud app that can run in any web browser.
Restore and Repair Photos In 3 Steps
- Step 1: Click Old Photo Restoration & Colorizer under More Types Repair.
- Step 2: Add photos by browsing for them using the Add button or dragging-and-dropping them into the app.
- Step 3: Click Process.
Customizable Process Modes
Wondershare Repairit has 3 processing modes you can choose from:
- Restore and Colorize,
- Restore only,
- Colorize only.
By default, the software uses Restore & Colorize mode. You may customize the processing mode depending on your needs.
While processing, the progress is displayed across each image, and you can cancel the process any time.
File Previewer Feature
Isn’t it nice to see before-after results to know at a glance just how much was done? Now you can do that with the built-in File Previewer before you save the files to disk.
When you are satisfied with the results, click Save (or Save All) and save the photos to your chosen location.
When the photos are saved, click OK.
Part III: Photo Restoration Tips
You know how they say it takes two to tango? That is precisely what applies in this case, too! While your photo restoration software will do the heavy lifting, but you have a role to play, too. By using these tips below, you can ensure that your photo restoration tool of choice is able to give you the best possible results that will surely make you smile with satisfaction.
Get The Best Quality Input Files
Sure, modern photo restoration software are no less than magicians when it comes to old photo repair, but they still cannot produce magic out of thin air! They need something to work with, and that something is quality input file that you can help provide. What is a quality input file? A quality input file is simply a file that gives the picture restoration software the best chance to do what it does.
How to get the best quality input files? You can use a flatbed scanner to scan old family photos to the computer for the photo restorer to work with. Using a flatbed scanner has several advantages:
- no image distortion during scan.
- no light dispersion and loss of more details from photos.
- captures images in the right light at the right color temperature for best results.
Another thing to note here is to set the scanner to scan at the highest DPI setting it can go to, to get the most pixels per inch in the image. This will help with restoring lost details and give the colorizer a greater chance at reproducing colors accurately.
When Using Your Phone/ DSLR Camera
Not everyone has a flatbed scanner at home or has access to one. In that case, you can also use your phone camera or your DSLR camera to take photographs of the old photographs. However, this method requires some more efforts to get the best quality input files.
- You need to make sure the camera lens is perpendicular to the photographs being photographed, to minimize skewing and distortion. A tripod will be of assistance here.
- You need to make sure that the environment is amply and evenly lit, with no bright light or shadows falling on the photographs being photographed.
When using a smartphone, some apps such as Microsoft Lens can help you take better quality photos fit for restoration by a photo restoration software.
Closing Words
Gone are those days when you would have to spend time and a truckload of cash to get those old family photos restored and repaired professionally, and put these photos in a photo album. Now, with modern technological advances, you can repair old family photos and recolor and retouch them yourself, from the comfort of your couch!
All you need is a way to digitize the old photos, for which this article also provides helpful tips, and then, a professional photo restoration software that can restore old family photos in just a few clicks. Download Wondershare Repairit from the link below and experience the most powerful, precise, and accurate photo restoration tool in the market.
