Prepare, Then Restore: Every Photo Option Explained

Recolor the Past separates preparing the source photo from restoring its content. This matters: rotation, cropping, perspective, exposure, contrast, saturation and white balance are ordinary manual corrections in Studio. You make them yourself in the app or web editor before requesting a restoration. They are not paid processing options and do not add restoration credits.

First: prepare the image in Studio

After scanning or importing a photo, open Adjustment settings in Studio. The same workflow is available in the mobile app and on the web.

• Rotate until the photo is upright.
• Adjust corners by dragging the four large handles onto the real edges of the print. Recolor the Past applies a projective perspective crop, which straightens a photo captured at an angle.
• Exposure changes overall brightness. Raise it carefully for an underexposed scan; lower it when highlights are washed out.
• Contrast controls the distance between dark and light tones. Avoid crushing shadow detail in old prints.
• White balance corrects an unwanted warm or cool cast from lighting or scanning.
• Saturation changes color intensity. It is useful for an existing color photo, but should usually stay neutral for a black-and-white source that will be colorized.

These edits are applied to the source file locally. The prepared crop—not the untouched camera frame—is what Studio sends for a preview. You can prepare and organize photos without ordering AI processing.

Then: choose restoration processing

Once the geometry and basic appearance are correct, choose only the restoration operations the photograph actually needs. Recolor the Past shows a free watermarked preview before you create a paid full-resolution result.

Colorize (black & white → color)

Use this for black-and-white or sepia photos. It adds plausible, natural color to skin, clothing, sky and surroundings so the picture feels like a living photograph again. It is a creative reconstruction, not proof of the original colors.

Improve faded color

Use this only on photos that were already in color but have faded, yellowed or shifted. It tries to rebalance the color that is still present in the image instead of inventing a new palette.

Repair damage

Use this for scratches, dust, spots, creases and small tears. The repair pass builds a damage mask, fills marked areas from the surrounding picture, and protects detected faces so important features are not wiped away.

Improve faces

Use this for portraits where the faces are soft but still visible. It gently clarifies facial detail when the face is large enough to benefit. Tiny background faces are left alone to avoid an artificial look.

Reduce blur

Use this on slightly soft scans or shaky phone captures. It can recover a little edge clarity, but it cannot turn a heavily blurred photo into a sharp original.

Reduce JPEG blocks and print dots

Use JPEG block reduction for old compressed files with square artefacts. Use print-dot reduction for magazine, newspaper or halftone scans where a visible dot pattern distracts from the image.

Which should I use?

• Old black-and-white family photo → Colorize, plus Improve faces for portraits.
• Scratched or dusty print → Repair damage.
• Faded 1970s color snapshot → correct white balance and exposure in Studio, then use Improve faded color.
• Phone photo of a print, taken at an angle → rotate and position the four crop corners in Studio before previewing.
• Scanned newspaper or magazine image → Reduce print dots.

Every paid full-resolution result shows the restoration credit cost before you order. Manual Studio preparation does not add credits. The watermarked restoration preview is free, so you can compare the prepared original with the result and change processing settings before exporting.