{"id":2012,"date":"2023-09-01T08:04:05","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T08:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aipassportphotos.com\/blog\/?p=2012"},"modified":"2023-11-28T02:47:58","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T02:47:58","slug":"gimp-or-ai-which-is-the-better-way-to-repair-old-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aipassportphotos.com\/blog\/gimp-or-ai-which-is-the-better-way-to-repair-old-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"GIMP or AI: Which Is the Better Way to Repair Old Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As time passes by, photos would inevitably suffer from humidity, or improper preservation, resulting in crimped corners, tears, stains, faded colors, etc. Damaged old photos mean memories of the past are losing, too. It is necessary to repair old photos<\/strong> and pass the precious moments on from generation to generation. People used to seek help from skilled artists. Nowadays, as technology develops, there are more and more alternatives to turning old photo to new photo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the best way to restore old photos<\/strong>, we have to consider manual or automatic editing, ease of use and cost. Photoshop is known as a powerful graphic processing application. However, the tools are hard to understand for beginners. Moreover, the subscription plan could be a little expensive for non-professionals. Perfect restoration not only recovers common defects like creases, tears, scratches and stains but also colorizes the retro pictures, which is difficult to achieve in manual operation, especially for novices. Therefore, in this passage, we are going to explore some user-friendly and effective photo restorers, covering traditional GIMP and advanced AI photo restoration<\/strong> tools. Finally, we will make a comparison between them, helping you choose the best one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open-Source Photo Restorer \u2013 GIMP<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

GIMP refers to GNU Image Manipulation Program. As a popular alternative to Photoshop, it is mainly used to retouch photos, edit photos, edit pixel images and combine multiple pictures. That is what photo restoration needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It keeps updating since it was launched in 1996. This open-source program is compatible with Windows, macOS, and most Linux. You can download it on its official website<\/a> free of charge and install it on your computer. In this session, we will introduce how to restore old photos<\/strong> with GIMP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Digitalize Old Photos<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, you have to convert your old photo into a digital version. You can either scan the pictures or take a shot of them. To maintain the original quality, it is suggested to scan them with printers or tablet scanners. The higher resolution of the photo is, the less difficult it will be to repair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Duplicate Layer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before starting to restore photos, it is recommended to duplicate the image which helps to preserve the original copy. Whenever necessary, you can return to the unprocessed photo conveniently. To achieve the duplication, please go to “Layers > Background > Duplicate Layer”. Next, you can create a new layer for each step and all operations could be done on separate layers, which ensures that all repairing steps are overlaid and not influenced by each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 3: Crop and straighten<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folded Corners and rough edges look unpleasant. You can use cut them out with the “Crop Tool” or arouse the tool with the shortcut: Shift + C. Sometimes the scanned photo is slanting. You can straighten it with the “Rotate Tool” or arouse the tool with the shortcut: Shift + R.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 4: Adjust Brightness and Color Contrast<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The old photo usually looks dull, so the primary step is to brighten it. Go to “Colors > Brightness-Contrast” to improve the overall appearance. The sliders can adjust the level of brightness and contrast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 5: Repair Imperfections<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it’s time to repair details. To deal with small areas of imperfections, such as scratches, creases, spots and stains, you can turn to the “Heal Tool” or the “Clone Tool”. Arouse the tool and click on the damaged areas. It will be recovered according to nearby colors and patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 6: Remove Noise<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noise refers to a grainy veil that obscures the photo. Old photos are featured with random pixels. It could be removed by going to “Filters > Enhance > Noise Reduction”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 7: Recolor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to bring old photos back to life, you have to correct the color cast or faded colors which result from humidity or direct light. This can be done by adjusting color balance, hue & saturation and curve which are available in the “Colors” panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 8: Sharpen the Image<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharpening is a technique to increase the definition of details. It is not a mandatory step to restore old photos<\/strong>, but it does improve your photo quality which can be done through “Filters > Enhance > Unsharp Mask”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 9: Save<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After finishing all restoration and getting a satisfactory result, you can export it by clicking “File > Export As”. Remember to name your picture and choose the file format as well as where you would like to save it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI Picture Restore<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you find it difficult to learn about GIMP or time-consuming to manually repair old photos<\/strong>, here comes some AI photo restoration<\/strong> alternatives. Strong self-learning capabilities allow them to exactly locate imperfections and retouch photos to the best effects automatically. In this session, we are going to introduce some AI-supported old photo restorers, including offline applications and online tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remini<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Remini is a popular application compatible with both iOS and Android. It is a wonderful solution to transform faded and blurry old photo to new photo<\/strong>. Moreover, the “before and after” feature lets you see how much it has been improved. When it comes to how to restore old photos<\/strong> with Remini, just follow these steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Download and install the app on your phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Open the app and upload the existing digital photo or scan the paper photos and start processing them right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 3: Click the “Enhance” button and it will start working automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 4: Save the recovered photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fotor<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Supported by advanced AI technology, Fotor can repair old photos<\/strong> within a few seconds. It can remove spots, scratches, and creases. Moreover, black-and-white photos are recolored by machine learning. All operations are done automatically without any manual analysis or adjustments. Photos with scratches, creases, blurred faces, black-and-white photos, yellowed photos and sepia-toned photos are all acceptable. Here is how it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n