It’s really magical, to say the least, to flip through an album and land on the odd snap from a couple of decades ago: parents going to prom, grandparents on graduation day, or perhaps an elementary school class picture where you had bangs your mother assured you were rather cool. And, of course, on the flip side, memories change with the transition of time: there was an instance where I looked at half-thought faces—all but gone now—and thought, “How can that shadow have anybody in the back row?”
Good news: You don’t have to let those memories fade into oblivion. Sun damage or ill-aging with time—there are so many tried and tested ways of restoring them. So find the best way to restore the school photos for the couple to cherish from generation to generation.
The Reasons Why Photos Fade in the First Place
Before we delve into the restoration aspects, it helps to understand what actually affects old pictures during the passage of time. Apart from this, most vintage pictures simply fade with exposure to sunlight and heat, maybe some humidity thrown in for good measure, or air pollutants that might be just around! The chemical dyes in color pictures are highly susceptible to change and slowly disappear over time, thereby losing color. The black-and-white, or monochromatic, pictures are also not unaffected; during the passage of years, they develop a tint or lose contrast.
These photos do worse when kept inside old albums made of acidic paper or plastic. If you’ve ever looked at your school photos and said, “What an ironic death in the making,” but solid chemistry has abhorred it, then you’ve also looked at the death of pictures over years of chemical reactions!
Digital Restoration: The Modern Miracle
Another approach to restore and revive faded photos is digitally. Digitally, it refers to scanning the old photographs at very high resolution and then using computer software to enhance and restore image quality. The great thing about this is that the original photograph never needs alteration; therefore, history is being preserved and improved upon simultaneously.
Scan your faded photos using at least 600 dpi; in the case of severely damaged photographs, 1200 dpi would be more suitable.1 For full albums, many people find it useful to resort to yearbook scanning services, as these technicians know the particular problems of working with bound photographs and will be able to extract quality scans far better than average home equipment.2
Now that the digitized images are ready, all photo-editing software rests at your disposal as a kit for restoration. Programs like Adobe Photoshop, GIMP (which is free), or even smartphone apps such as Snapseed are fine, excellent tools that may let you adjust the brightness, contrast, or saturation of the colors.3 Scratches can be removed, yellowing decreased, and the retrieval of details that seemed forever lost may be achieved. The free programs are easy and vary in their learning curves, but an abundance of tutorials is available that help walk you through processing step by step.
Professional Restoration Services for Photos
If you feel you lack any expertise in digital editing or the project concerns photographs that are truly treasured or fragile ones, investing in restoration services would be a fair consideration. Those experts operate in this peculiar industry of restoring old photographs and can perform miracles on pictures that have passed beyond hope.4
Professional restorers are the ones who use high-tech techniques and software to repair damages, changes in color, or even missing portions of photographs. They usually work from high-quality scans, so you should provide them with digital files or send the originals (insured, of course!). Though the price exceeds that of DIY methods, sometimes the results are simply breathtaking—first choice in reminiscences—they will certainly be supporting these photographs on display or gifting to families.
Chemical Restoration for Physical Prints
For purists preferring to work with actual photographs, chemical restoration is an option—provided that care and preparation are used. This method, however, is best left to those who have some photographic knowledge or professionals, since errors resulting therefrom could permanently destroy your photos.
Chemical restoration involves the application of special chemicals to remove stains and reduce yellowing for enhancing image quality on a print. Chemical alteration never comes without dangerous consequences for the original photograph. Still, if you go down the route of using chemical restoration, always test the chemicals on less important photos first, ensure proper ventilation, and consider making a digital copy for backup before you attempt physical restoration.
Preventing Future Fading
Once again, depending on the original school photographs, after restoration, they have to be protected from decaying. Keep the originals in acid-free, archival-quality albums and sleeves away from direct sunlight with air conditioning.5 A kind of environmental storage like basements or attics may seem to be all right for storage, but extreme temperature and humidity fluctuations make them unsuitable for preservation.
There are so many individuals that see yearbook digitizing as one giant step for setting up a complete digital archive of school memories. Thus, it prevents physical damage to the yearbooks and imparts easy transfer of pictures to families and other classmates who might be anywhere across America.
The Journey of Restoration
Bringing back those faded photographs from old school albums is not merely the preservation process; it’s a trip that takes you back to certain moments you thought were drifting away. Even if you digitalize all by yourself, or engage professional services, or go through the less advisable physical restoration yourself, all these are ways of saying ‘thank you’ to the past while forging a path for these memories in the present.
Generally, it depends on your comfort level with technology, the amount of money you wish to spend, and the state of the photos. You want to select a couple of images to try each method, and never be afraid to experiment. At least a story along with a memory is saved in the passing of one faded photo on restoration; it is something for the new generation to wonder about—how it was to go to school in your day.
