Restore and clean up an old photograph
Scratches, blur, faded colour and scan artefacts, described in plain language.
SamImageGenerator ·
An old photograph usually needs three different things: damage removed, colour corrected and detail sharpened. A generator can do all three, but it does them best when you ask for them one at a time rather than in one sweeping "restore this".
The order that works
Start with damage. Mark the scratches, creases, stains or missing corners and write "remove, match the surrounding area". Then handle colour: "correct the yellow cast, natural skin tones" for a faded print, or "colourise, natural muted colours" for black and white. Sharpen last, and only if it still needs it — the earlier steps often do that job on their own.
| Problem | What to write |
|---|---|
| Scratches and creases | remove, match the surrounding texture |
| Yellow or faded print | correct the colour cast, natural tones |
| Black and white original | colourise with natural muted colours |
| Soft or blurred | sharpen detail, keep the film grain |
| Torn corner | rebuild the missing corner to match |
What restoration cannot recover
Detail that is not in the original is not recovered — it is invented. A face that is a blur of six pixels comes back as a plausible face, not as that person's face, and no tool changes that. For anything where the identity matters, keep the changes conservative and check the result against another photo of the same person.
Colourising is the same kind of guess in a friendlier form: the colours are believable, not documented. If the dress was green, say so in the prompt; the model has no way to know.
Keeping the character of the original
Film grain, soft focus and warm tone are part of what makes an old photograph look old. Ask to keep them — "keep the film grain", "keep the soft focus" — or you get a clean modern picture that no longer feels like a memory. If you only want part of the frame touched, mark it: the rules are the same as in changing one marked area, and every pass costs one credit.