Old Family Photos

[Dreamer2021]

I have a lot of old family photos that I want to use for a memory album to give to family. Some are b/w, some torn, some hazy, etc. I’m looking for suggestions on which software would work best to improve my photos. Something user friendly and easy. Thanks!

 

[Lan]

I'd start with the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer.

It now does scratch repair (albeit not particularly well)

Photo enhancement (startlingly well at times)

Colorisation (very well)

All operations are just a few clicks.

The only thing you need to be careful of is accidentally signing up to the paid service...

https://www.myheritage.com/photo-enhancer

 

[lacogada]

I have a lot of old family photos that I want to use for a memory album to give to family. Some are b/w, some torn, some hazy, etc. I’m looking for suggestions on which software would work best to improve my photos. Something user friendly and easy. Thanks!

You can have a look at : https://ams-photo-software.com/photoglory-photo-restoration-software/

Have not tried the above program ... but do have their calendar creator software that works well.

 

[Lan]

Incidentally if you wanted to post an image or two, I'd be happy to run them through the MyHeritage restorer for you?

Here's an example thread I posted previously:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65044001

There are more around, but I can't find them on the forum instantly.

 

[Dreamer2021]

Here are a couple of photos Lan. Thanks!













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[Lan]

OK, here are the results of a quick run through MyHeritage Photo Enhancer:


Restore and Colourise


Enhance and Restore Colours

No real work required other than a couple of clicks; the removal of flakes and restoration of colour is automatic once you select it.

There is a free trial available; but it only works for a handful of photos. I've bought a full subscription, so restorations are (to the best of my knowledge) unlimited.

It is amazing what software can do these days!

Here are a couple of photos Lan. Thanks!





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[Dreamer2021]

The photos look great LAN! Thanks so much!!

 

[Dreamer2021]

I have a lot of old family photos that I want to use for a memory album to give to family. Some are b/w, some torn, some hazy, etc. I’m looking for suggestions on which software would work best to improve my photos. Something user friendly and easy. Thanks!

You can have a look at : https://ams-photo-software.com/photoglory-photo-restoration-software/

Have not tried the above program ... but do have their calendar creator software that works well.

Thanks! I will check it out!

 

[Jeff DLB]

OK, here are the results of a quick run through MyHeritage Photo Enhancer:


Restore and Colourise

The results are impressive. However, I find it unfortunate that they insist on burning in the palette and wand icons -- this should be an option if you have the paid version. Their web site says "We differentiate enhanced photos from the originals using a special embossed magic wand icon in the bottom left corner of enhanced photos. The magic wand icon appears on all enhanced photos so that users can tell them apart from the original. In photos that were both enhanced and colorized, the magic wand and palette icons will appear side by side on the bottom left corner. We hope that this responsible practice will be adopted by others who use photo enhancement technology."

The fact that it seems difficult or impossible to find the cost of the various subscription plans on their web site also gives me pause.

--
Jeff DLB
https://www.flickr.com/jeffdlb/

 

[Jeff DLB]

You can have a look at : https://ams-photo-software.com/photoglory-photo-restoration-software/

This is a one-time payment and not too expensive. Unfortunately, it is only for Windows.

 

[Lan]

OK, here are the results of a quick run through MyHeritage Photo Enhancer:

The results are impressive. However, I find it unfortunate that they insist on burning in the palette and wand icons -- this should be an option if you have the paid version. Their web site says "We differentiate enhanced photos from the originals using a special embossed magic wand icon in the bottom left corner of enhanced photos. The magic wand icon appears on all enhanced photos so that users can tell them apart from the original. In photos that were both enhanced and colorized, the magic wand and palette icons will appear side by side on the bottom left corner. We hope that this responsible practice will be adopted by others who use photo enhancement technology."

The fact that it seems difficult or impossible to find the cost of the various subscription plans on their web site also gives me pause.

Yes, agreed on both points Jeff.

The logos are bizarre; as they don't even state MyHeritage or give any brand information at all, they seem to be there purely there to annoy. Fortunately it only takes a few seconds with the Healing Brush to get rid of them, but I agree we shouldn't have to. It would definitely be better if we could turn them off on the paid subscriptions.

It used to be a lot easier to find the pricing info, not sure why they've hidden that. You can buy Gift Subscriptions, which might be the smart option, as they provide clear pricing and apparently don't auto-renew:

https://www.myheritage.com/gift

FWIW I subscribed accidentally. I took a 14 day free trial, and on the 13th day they offered me a free 7 day extension. I tried to cancel on the 21st day (thinking the trial would expire three weeks after it started), but of course 13+7 is 20 and my paid subscription had started automatically. To be fair, I didn't try remonstrating with them as I've found playing with the Photo Enhancer fascinating, and I've been meaning to get into the genealogy side for years anyway; so I'm happy with it for now, even if that was a bit sneaky IMO

 

[Jeff DLB]

You can buy Gift Subscriptions, which might be the smart option, as they provide clear pricing and apparently don't auto-renew:

https://www.myheritage.com/gift

Very clever idea!

FWIW I subscribed accidentally.

I think that is their goal. It does look like a good program for photos, in any case.

I've been meaning to get into the genealogy side for years anyway

I currently use MacFamilyTree for my genealogy data (which were mostly compiled by my father and other relatives).

 

[dwight3]

I have a lot of old family photos that I want to use for a memory album to give to family. Some are b/w, some torn, some hazy, etc. I’m looking for suggestions on which software would work best to improve my photos. Something user friendly and easy. Thanks!

This is something I'd like to push. Family photos are important to families. Having said that, remember that families age, and people will not always recognize the individuals in any given photo. It's important to have documentation attached to the images so people a century or two from now will know WhoWhatWnyWhereWhen.

You should consider attaching documentation to your photos. The primary documentation should be the names of the people in the photo, but sometimes other documentation is important for context.

I have a set of writeups (with examples) on family photo documentation at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=2991

The real problem here is attaching documentation in such a way that it cannot be separated from the photo. Remember that you can put a lot of information into metadata, but (1) not everyone knows what metadata are; and (2) metadata do not survive printing. My solution is to add text to the images. Admittedly, that impacts the artistic quality of the image, but artistry is not always what family photos are about.

 

[Jeff DLB]

This is something I'd like to push. Family photos are important to families. Having said that, remember that families age, and people will not always recognize the individuals in any given photo. It's important to have documentation attached to the images so people a century or two from now will know WhoWhatWnyWhereWhen.

You should consider attaching documentation to your photos. The primary documentation should be the names of the people in the photo, but sometimes other documentation is important for context.

I have a set of writeups (with examples) on family photo documentation at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=2991

The real problem here is attaching documentation in such a way that it cannot be separated from the photo. Remember that you can put a lot of information into metadata, but (1) not everyone knows what metadata are; and (2) metadata do not survive printing. My solution is to add text to the images. Admittedly, that impacts the artistic quality of the image, but artistry is not always what family photos are about.

I fully agree that providing as much documentation as possible is important. I typically just use EXIF metadata embedded in JPEG or recorded in an XMP sidecar file, but I agree that not everybody can read or print those. I like your text-below-the image solution better than text-on-the-image. If I needed more documentation than EXIF could easily handle, I would create a sidecar TXT file.

 

[dwight3]

...I fully agree that providing as much documentation as possible is important. I typically just use EXIF metadata embedded in JPEG or recorded in an XMP sidecar file, but I agree that not everybody can read or print those. I like your text-below-the image solution better than text-on-the-image. If I needed more documentation than EXIF could easily handle, I would create a sidecar TXT file.

The only problem with the text in the margin is that the documentation is then separable. It's easy to crop off. And similarly, txt files are separate files, and therefore readily separable from the image.

The question remains: Is it the image that's important or the information?

I have a boxfull of prints dating back to the 1800s. Maybe 30% of them have something written on the back. The rest of them are for all intents and purposes, useless. I don't know who they are, or if they're even relatives.