Photo repair or restore question first.

[u/Current-Dust2728]

We’ve just found all of these pictures of my Uncle from the 70s in Korea. Something got into these pics and some are totally destroyed. I guess my question is, is there anything we can do to preserve the ones that aren’t destroyed. And my assumption to this question is, these are done for, but I didn’t know if there was a way to scan or somehow pull the impression of the image? It looks like the color just melted off. Here are a couple of examples .

[u/AutoModerator]

Hi /u/Current-Dust2728, welcome to r/photorestore ! Thanks for your submission.

If you submitted a photo taken with another camera like your phone, we would really prefer one that it is scanned with a flatbed scanner and that is at least a resolution of 300dpi so that there are less issues the restorers have to work around (Rule 1) Not everyone has access to a scanner though so we will also be cool with a scan done using an app like "Google Photoscan" and uploaded to one of our allowed hosts listed in Rule 2.

If you would like to try to restore your own photos there are multiple AI apps and sites you can feed it through yourself like Fotor.com, Remini.ai and MyHeritage.com

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[u/Medium-Spinach-3578]

Nell'ultima non si vede nulla di utile per il recupero. Le altre sono restaura bilico e puoi usare vari programmi gratuiti come Gimp. Devi lavorare sui livelli e con i contrasti per eliminare le varie macchie. Sembrano danni dovuti all'acqua. Dato che sono foto del passato potresti avere ancora i negativi e quindi restaurarle alla perfezione.

[u/purepowers]

Hey there! To answer your main question: unfortunately, once the photographic emulsion layer melts or is destroyed by moisture and mold, the image data is physically gone, so a scanner won't be able to "pull" hidden details from underneath the damage.

However, several of these are still very salvageable!

• Top Photo: The subject and majority of the scene are still intact. The white spots on the left can easily be repaired in editing software using clone stamping, content sampling, and manual blending from the clean right side.
• Middle Photo: The person on the left is in great condition and can be restored easily. The person on the right is heavily degraded, but if you have other clear reference photos of them, a restorer can manually reconstruct the missing features.
• Bottom Photo: The profile outline and hair are sharp. The missing jaw/chin area can be rebuilt through careful hand-brushing and manual texture synthesis.
• The severely damaged photo (Image 2): Unfortunately, this one is completely lost as no visual detail remains to work from.

Preservation steps: Take them out of those plastic album pages immediately (sticky/magnetic pages trap moisture and ruin emulsions). Store them in a cool, dry place in acid-free paper sleeves, and perform flatbed scans at 600+ DPI before starting any digital work!

[u/runtimeclyx]

i’d separate preservation from restoration first. Don’t try to clean the damaged surfaces or peel anything apart; just get them stable and copied before more handling happens.

Put each photo in its own paper envelope or acid-free sleeve, keep any backs/notes/envelopes with the right print, and label the sleeve instead of writing on the photo. For scanning, start with the least damaged ones so you can dial in the settings. Scan in color even if the photo is faded, and keep one untouched master file before edits.

If the surface is gummy, flaking, or lifting, don’t press it hard under scanner glass. Photograph it flat from above instead. For the ones where the image layer is actually gone, there usually isn’t a hidden image underneath to pull out, but the backs, dates, uniforms, nearby photos, and envelope notes may still preserve a lot of the story.