Photo Restoration: Breathing Life Back Into Memories

One of my favourite things to do is restoring and enhancing old photos. You know the ones. The prints that live in hallway closets, attic boxes, or tucked away in the garage. The longer life goes on, the more of these little time capsules you collect. From my parents, especially my mother, I’ve been handed down a treasure trove of family photographs. Not digital files, but proper old-fashioned prints you can actually hold. Some faded, some scratched, some bent at the corners. Each one carrying history… just a little weathered by time. My love for restoration also comes from a more personal place. Three years into my marriage, the apartment we were renting was burgled. They cleaned us out. Among the things taken were our family albums, including our wedding photos. Back then, along with the printed copies from the photographers, we were given CDs containing all the images. Gone. All of it. It hurt deeply. Family kindly shared copies they had, which meant the world to us. But many had been exposed to light, damaged, or degraded over the years. That’s when I really set out on the path of photo restoration. Not just as a hobby, but as a way of reclaiming something that had been taken. https://budgetpixel.com/p/9187 Now, with AI in the mix, the game has completely changed. A quick tip though: don’t burn through your credits experimenting. Use the free platforms first. Even if you only get a couple of attempts, it’s enough to refine your prompts and figure out what works. Tools like Arena and Gemini are great for testing, and they can even help you improve your prompts. ChatGPT is also fantastic for this side of things. As for models, my personal picks? Nano Banana Pro sits firmly at the top for restoration work, followed closely by SeeDream 4.5 and Flux Pro. https://budgetpixel.com/p/7108 If you prefer doing your restorations yourself, prompts matter more than people realise. Be specific. Use plain, natural language. Avoid text speak or shorthand. Think of it like giving directions to someone who has never seen the photo before. You need to describe exactly what you want fixed or enhanced. For example, instead of saying: “Fix face, make clearer” Try something like: “Restore facial detail, sharpen eyes, correct skin texture, remove scratches and dust, maintain natural skin tone.” Detail matters. Define the era if it’s relevant. Mention lighting issues. Point out physical damage like creases, stains, or fading. If colours look wrong, say so. If it’s black and white, specify whether you want colourisation or to keep it original. Another big one: keep your language clean and direct. AI models respond far better to proper wording than slang or text abbreviations. Write it like you’re giving instructions to a professional editor, not sending a phone message. And finally, don’t be afraid to iterate. Run small tests. Adjust wording. Refine your prompt until the results line up with what you see in your head. The more precise your prompt, the less guesswork the AI has to do… and the better your restoration will be.