The Ultimate Guide to Using Photoshop to Restore Old Photos

Can Photoshop restore old photos to their original condition to reclaim your treasured moments? Yes, and thankfully, it is easy. This guide will show you how to breathe new life into even the most cracked or discolored old photographs. Read on to get acquainted.

What makes old photos fade

Old photos fade for a variety of reasons, but the culprits can be grouped into four main categories:

• Light: the biggest enemy of old photographs is constant exposure to light as it slowly bleaches the colors, leaving behind a washed-out appearance.
• Environmental factors: extremes in temperature and humidity or exposure to airborne pollutants like smoke and dust can accelerate discoloration or cause spotty fading.
• Improper storage and handling: contact with acidic materials like adhesives or physical damage from scratches, bends, and tears can contribute to the gradual fading of vintage pictures.
• Inherent materials and processes: the old photo production techniques, especially from the mid-20th century or earlier, may have been less stable and archival than modern methods.
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How to restore old pictures with PhotoShop

Adobe Photoshop is a versatile raster graphics editing software that combines, retouches, and remixes photos for stunning imagery. There are various features in Photoshop to restore an old photo, including scratch reduction, face enhancers, a spot healing brush, a clone stamp tool, and blending modes to ensure you reclaim those lost memories before it is too late.

Steps

Transforming an old image back to its former glory using Adobe Photoshop goes as follows:

Step
1. Scan old photograph
2. The first step is to digitize the old photograph. You can scan the vintage photo with a regular photo scanner, a smartphone scanner app, or a camera.
Step
3. Open the photo in Photoshop
4. Import the old image to the Adobe Photoshop editing window. This will be the background layer, so lock it.
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Step
6. Create a new layer and adjust the photo
7. You'll need to create a second copy so the original photo remains for reference and the nondestructive edits won't tamper with the original photo. Select a layer, drag it to create a new layer button, and give it a name. Ensure your uploaded photo is oriented correctly by cropping, straightening, and rotating it to the most appropriate position.
Step
8. Use the photo restoration filter
9. Navigate to the Filter tab, Neural Filters, and select Photo Restoration. Download and apply the filter for instant picture clarity improvements. Use the sliders and adjust photo enhancement, enhance face, and scratch reduction to the most suitable level. Also, click the Adjustment drop-down and use the sliders to regulate noise reduction, color noise reduction, halftone artifacts reduction, and JPEG artifacts reduction for the perfect intensity of each filter.
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Step
11. Export

Save your Photoshop-restored old photo in JPG, PNG, TIFF, and other picture file formats you prefer.

How to restore heavily damaged old photographs in Photoshop

For heavily damaged images, such as water-damaged old photographs, you may not get the desired results by simply applying the image restoration filter. Here is how to use Photoshop to restore old photos, especially sepia, monochromatic, and black-and-white photos!

Step
1. Import an image to Photoshop
2. Open your old photograph in Photoshop and create a new layer.
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Step
4. Add a new black-and-white layer
5. Since you are working with an image that doesn't have color, it is easier to handle it in a new black-and-white adjustment layer. This will give you the color slider options to regulate the image's luminosity.
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Step
7. Adjust the brightness and contrast
8. Play with the brightness and contrast sliders to bring back some details until you get the perfect outcome.
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Step
10. Further clean the image
11. Use the patch and clone tools to clean up the remaining damage from your image. You can also adjust the clone tool to lighten and darken modes and play with opacity and flow levels for better results.
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Step
13. Export

Once you restore old pictures in Photoshop, click File, and save your final restored old photo to your device.

How to colorize faded old photographs in Photoshop

If you want to photoshop restore old photos that are sepia or black-and-white and add colors, then follow these steps:

Step
1. Open image in Photoshop
2. Scan your old photograph, add it to the Adobe Photoshop editor, and create a new adjustment layer.
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Step
4. Apply the image restoration filters
5. Navigate to the Filter tab, open Neural Filters, and go to Photo Restoration so you can download the filter to apply to your photo. Drag the sliders for photo enhancement, enhance the face, and scratch reduction for perfect results.
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Step
7. Make additional repairs
8. For this part, go to options and select Sample All Layers > Content Aware. This allows you to use the Spot Healing Brush and Clone Stamp tools to dab over areas to heal and cover unwanted marks.
Step
9. Colorize the old photo
10. Add color to your sepia or black-and-white photo by clicking Filter>Neutral Filters and opening Colorize to set the blending mode.
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Step
12. Export

Once done, save your work to your computer's local storage.

So, no matter what kind of old photo restoration you want, Photoshop has all the tools. However, it has a steep learning curve and costly subscriptions, and its complex procedures can hinder time-sensitive projects. Thankfully, there is an easier way to restore old photographs with AI-powered tools like the CapCut old photo restoration, and without further ado, let's check it out.

How to restore old photographs without Photoshop

CapCut old photo restoration is an advanced AI tool that can restore old photos in one click – no complex procedures, and you get professional results! The following are the features that set it apart from others.

Key features

• Auto-colorize: with the help of AI, the tool automatically analyzes your old photograph, matches colors, and applies chosen colors to bring life to old sepia-toned or black-and-white pictures.
• Denoise: it can distinguish between desired and unwanted photo details and selectively reduce or remove noise while balancing preservation and smoothness.
• Deblur: it sharpens and enhances blurry or out-of-focus old photos to improve clarity and fine details significantly.
• Repair image flaws: with a single button click, it can remove scratches, tears, and other imperfections, leaving a clean, clear picture.

Steps

As a user-friendly tool, CapCut old photo restoration has a short learning curve, allowing beginners and experts an easy time. Here is how it works:

Step
1. Upload
2. To start, visit the CapCut official website, and on the homepage, open Magic tools>For images>Old photo restoration.
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4. This will present you with different ways to upload your vintage photograph by browsing your device storage, dragging and dropping from a folder, or importing from your CapCut cloud space, Google Drive, and Dropbox accounts.
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Step
6. Generate
7. Your uploaded image will appear on the CapCut old photo restoration window, ready to be restored.
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9. To restore an old photo, use the old photo restoration tool on the right side of your screen. On it, there is a See changes icon, an Original photo, and a Colored version. Use the See changes icon to remove grains and click on the Colored version to automatically generate a better-quality colored version of your faded photograph.
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11. But what if you still need to improve the old photo further? Click Edit more for a seamless transition to the CapCut web editor. It has all the basic, advanced, and smart tools to ensure you get studio-grade quality. For example, you can crop or mirror the image or use CapCut's vast resources, including templates, text, filters, and effects, to add more flavor. Also, you can change the background color or blur it and even use an AI-powered retouch feature to enhance beauty highlights.
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Step
13. Export

After you've restored the old photo and don't want to edit it further, click Export on the CapCut old photo restoration interface, and the restored photo will instantly download to your device's local disk.



Otherwise, if you perform further enhancements, click Export on the CapCut online photo editor. It has various export options to share the restored photo for review, as a presentation, or on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.



Conclusion

And so, you've reached the final brushstroke on the journey of using Photoshop to restore old photos by fixing cracks, scratches, faded colors, and blurry faces. Photoshop remains unbeaten for its powerful tools and features, but it can be costly and takes time to ensure a flawless outcome. If you are not conversant with Photoshop, try the CapCut old photo restoration tool. It is online and free to use, and you still get studio-grade quality, even without prior editing experience.

FAQs

1. How do I restore part of an image in Photoshop?
2. To restore part of an image, use the History Brush tool in your Photoshop software. Start by choosing a Window and then open the History panel. On the far left, click the column of the state you intend to use as your History Brush tool source, and a brush icon will appear. Choose a History Brush Tool and customize its settings, including size and hardness. Drag it over the image sections to restore, and you will have restored a selected area of your image. If you want a quick method, try CapCut's old photo restoration to transform an old photo with a single click. It is fast and uses AI to simplify editing!
3. How do I remove cracks from old photos in Photoshop?
4. Restoring old photographs in Photoshop with the scratch reduction tool can quickly fix cracked old photographs. Open the Filter tab > Neural Filters, and select Photo Restoration. Look for the Scratch Reduction slider and drag it to increase the filter's intensity, and you'll have removed cracks from your old photos in Photoshop. Alternatively, use CapCut old photo restoration's See changes icon to produce a clean image effortlessly. It leverages the power of AI to restore an old photo and colorize it in one click.