Tutorials · 2026-10-02 · 3 min read

How to Restore Old, Faded, or Damaged Family Photos With AI

Scratches, creases, stains, and faded color can be repaired from a simple scan. A step by step guide to restoring old prints with AI.

Prints that have spent decades in a shoebox tend to share the same problems: faded color, scratches, fold lines, and spots from damp. Fixing them by hand means hours with a clone tool. The Old Photo Restore tool on AirGallery handles all of those in one pass, and you choose which repairs to apply. For blur and noise rather than physical damage, Photo Repair is the better fit, and this guide covers when to use each.

Before you start

  • Scan the print, or photograph it with your phone held parallel to the paper in flat, even light. Avoid glare from a window or lamp.
  • Save the file as JPG, PNG, or WebP, under 10 MB.
  • Keep the original scan somewhere safe. The tool never overwrites it, but you will want it for comparison.
  • Sign in to your AirGallery account. The credit cost is shown on the page before you run anything.

Steps

  • Open Old Photo Restore. You will see five restoration options, all switched on by default: Remove scratches and tears, Restore faded colors, Remove stains and spots, Fix fold lines and creases, and Enhance and sharpen.
  • Untick anything that does not apply. For a black and white print you want to keep black and white, turn off Restore faded colors.
  • Upload the scan by clicking the upload area or dragging the file onto it.
  • Click Restore and wait. The tool runs a multi-pass restoration and shows the result next to the original.
  • Compare the two closely, especially faces. Then click Download or Save to Gallery.
  • If something looks off, change the options and run it again. Each run is charged separately, so decide what to change before you click.

Tips

  • Fewer options means fewer changes. If a face looks slightly different after restoration, run it again with Enhance and sharpen turned off and only the damage options on.
  • For a photo that is blurry or grainy rather than physically damaged, use Photo Repair and pick Unblur or Denoise. It also has a General Repair mode for mixed problems.
  • Restore first, then add color. If you plan to colorize a black and white print, do the repair pass with Restore faded colors off, then take the result to Colorize.
  • Restore first, then enlarge. Damage repair works best at the scan resolution. Run Upscale on the restored file if you want a large print.
  • Small prints hide a lot of detail. Scan at a higher resolution than you think you need, within the 10 MB limit, so the tool has more to work with.
  • Crop out the border and any mount or album page before you upload. Damage on the border is wasted effort, and a tighter crop gives the photo itself more resolution.

Which tool for which problem

Use Old Photo Restore for physical damage: scratches, tears, creases, stains, and faded dye. Use Photo Repair for optical problems: blur, camera shake, grain, and compression artifacts from an old digital file. A badly damaged photo that is also blurry can go through both, restoration first, then repair.

AI restoration is a reconstruction, not a recovery, so it can change small details while it fills in damage. That is why the comparison step matters. Most AirGallery runs cost one to three credits and credits never expire, so there is no reason to rush. Take the time to check the result against the original, keep both, and you will end up with a version of the photo that you are glad to print and share.