1 credit · 1 photo
AI photo restoration
Bring an old, damaged, or faded photo back to life — without inventing features that weren't there.
Powered by FLUX · ~30s · 7-day input deletion · You own the photo
AI photo restoration takes a damaged or faded photo and repairs visible damage — scratches, tears, light water damage, fading, mild blur — while preserving the real people in it. Lumapic does not invent faces or features that weren't there in the original; we restore what's visible and leave what's missing alone. Colorization is optional, not automatic. 1 credit ($0.25) per photo, around 30 seconds.
What kind of damage can AI photo restoration fix
Old photos fail in predictable ways. Emulsion cracks become surface scratches. Dye layers fade unevenly — cyan goes first, leaving 70s and 80s color photos with a reddish-orange cast. Paper backings yellow as the binder oxidizes. Folds become tears, then missing chunks.
AI photo restoration handles most of these reliably: scratches and tears, fading and color shift, mild water damage, light blur, yellow or sepia discoloration, dust and stains, mild creases. What it doesn't handle well: missing parts of faces (we leave these alone), heavily destroyed sections, or severely blurred features. The model won't invent what isn't there — that's the trade-off for keeping the result faithful.
Does AI photo restoration invent faces?
Lumapic's restoration does not. Our model is constrained to repair what's in the photo, not generate new content. If a face has visible eyes in the original, we sharpen and clean those eyes. If the eyes are missing or destroyed, we don't fabricate them.
This is the key difference from face-enhancement tools like Remini, which were built for resolution upscaling and routinely smooth features past recognition. For a photo of a deceased grandparent, "smoothed past recognition" means a stranger. We'd rather return a restored photo with limits visible than a "perfect" photo that's no longer your relative.
Should you colorize an old black-and-white photo?
Colorization is optional, not automatic. The choice is genuinely yours; both options are valid.
Colorize when you want to feel close to the person — the photo becomes more immediate, more present. Keep it black-and-white when you want to feel close to the era. A 1940s photo in B&W *reads* as a 1940s photo; colorizing flattens that period feel and pulls the photo into the present.
Free AI photo restoration vs. paid — what you actually get
Free tools exist (Hotpot.ai, Remini's basic mode) with trade-offs. Outputs are watermarked or capped at low resolution. The model is usually face-enhancement-first, which smooths features past recognition on portraits.
Manual restoration services like MemoryCherish use real human artists at $30 to $60 per photo and produce museum-quality results for severe damage. Lumapic sits in the middle: $0.25 per photo, identity preserved, no watermarks, 2048px output. For a severely-damaged irreplaceable photo, hire a human. For everything else, AI restoration works.
Privacy when restoring photos of deceased relatives
This template has the most sensitive inputs in the catalog. Photos of deceased relatives, family events, private moments. The expectation around how those photos are handled is reasonably stricter than for a regular AI-photo upload.
Input photos are auto-deleted from our servers 7 days after upload. You can delete them immediately from your account page. We don't use restoration inputs for model training or marketing. The restored output stays only in your Lumapic library — see our privacy policy for the full statement.
What to use it for
Six real surfaces.
- Restore a grandparent's wedding photo for a 50th anniversary or memorial display
- Repair a damaged baby photo of a parent for their birthday or a milestone gift
- Clean up a faded Polaroid from the 70s before scanning it for a digital family archive
- Restore a photo of a deceased relative for a memorial service or funeral slideshow
- Repair scratched or torn photos before they degrade further in storage
- Restore a childhood school photo lost to attic dampness or basement flooding
How it works
From upload to finished photo.
01
Scan or photograph the damaged photo
JPG, PNG, or WebP, at least 1024px on the long edge. A flatbed scan at 600 DPI produces dramatically better results than a phone photo. Light the original evenly — uneven phone light becomes part of the input.
02
The model runs the restoration passes
Scratch repair, tear reconstruction, fade correction, color-cast removal, sharpness recovery — all while preserving identity, era-correct lighting, and period-appropriate grain. Colorization stays optional.
03
Download the result
Final JPG at 2048px on the long edge, print-ready at standard 4×6, 5×7, or 8×10 sizes. Around 30 seconds. 1 credit ($0.25). Keep the original; we operate on a copy.
Tips for best results
What actually helps.
- A flatbed scan at 600 DPI produces dramatically better restorations than a phone photo of the print
- Light the original evenly when you scan — uneven shadows become part of the input
- Don't crop tightly when you scan; give the model some border to work with
- Black-and-white photos restore more reliably than 70s–80s color photos (color faded unevenly, and the cyan-loss is harder to correct cleanly)
- Don't pre-edit in Photoshop or another tool first; the model expects the raw damage, not a partial fix
- If the photo has severe damage (missing chunks of face, destroyed sections), the model will restore around the missing area rather than inventing what was there — that's the right call, not a limitation to fix
Honest comparison
How this stacks up against alternatives.
Lumapic Restoration vs. MemoryCherish and Remini: MemoryCherish uses real human restoration artists at $30 to $60 per photo and produces museum-quality results for severe damage — the right choice for an irreplaceable photo with destroyed sections. Remini is fast and free but is built for face enhancement, and its restoration mode is known to smooth faces past recognition, which is exactly what you don't want on a photo of a grandparent. Lumapic sits in the middle: faster than manual restoration, faithful to identity in a way Remini isn't, and $0.25 per photo. For severely-damaged irreplaceable photos, hire a human. For everything else, Lumapic.
FAQ
Common questions.
Does AI photo restoration invent faces?
Lumapic's restoration does not. Our model is constrained to repair the photo, not generate new content — if a face has visible eyes in the original, we sharpen and clean those eyes; if the eyes are missing or destroyed, we don't fabricate them. This is the key difference from face-enhancement tools like Remini, which sometimes smooth features past recognition. We'd rather return a restored photo with limits visible than a 'perfect' photo that's no longer your relative.
What kinds of damage can be restored?
Scratches and tears, fading and color shift, mild water damage, light blur and softness, yellow/sepia discoloration from aged paper, dust and stains, and mild creases. What we don't restore: missing parts of faces (we leave these alone), heavily destroyed sections, or severely blurred features — the model won't invent what isn't there.
Will it colorize a black-and-white photo?
Only if you ask for it. Colorization is optional, not automatic. A 1940s photo in black-and-white reads as a 1940s photo; colorize when you want to feel close to the person, keep B&W when you want to feel close to the era. Both are valid choices.
Is AI photo restoration free?
Some tools have free tiers (Hotpot.ai, Remini's basic mode) with the trade-off that outputs are watermarked, capped at low resolution, or pushed toward face-enhancement defaults that change identity. Lumapic is pay-as-you-go at $0.25 per photo with no watermarks, full 2048px resolution, and no identity changes. You only pay for outputs you actually use.
Is the photo I upload kept?
Input photos are auto-deleted from our servers 7 days after upload. The restored output stays in your Lumapic library until you delete it. You can also delete inputs immediately from your account page. We don't use restoration inputs for training or marketing — see our privacy policy for the full statement.
How does it compare to a manual restoration service?
Manual restoration services like MemoryCherish and ScanCafe use real human artists working in Photoshop, take 1 to 4 hours per photo, and cost $30 to $60. They produce museum-quality results for severely damaged irreplaceable photos. Lumapic restores most photos in around 30 seconds for $0.25, with the trade-off that very severe damage is better handled by a human. For an irreplaceable photo with destroyed sections, hire a human. For everything else, AI restoration works.
Is the output print-ready?
Yes — 2048px on the long edge, which prints cleanly at 4×6, 5×7, and 8×10 inches at 250 DPI. Enough for framed prints, family photo books, memorial slideshows, and most genealogy-archive uses. For larger prints (poster-size, full-page magazine), commission a manual restoration.
Can I restore a photo of a deceased relative?
Yes — this is one of the most common reasons people use the tool. Privacy: input photos are auto-deleted from our servers 7 days after upload, you can delete them immediately, and we don't use them for training or marketing. The restored output stays only in your Lumapic library.
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