Photo Restoration

Chad Austin, Inc. offers a meticulous and professional photo restoration service, specializing in breathing new life into old black and white photographs. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for preserving cherished memories, Chad Austin, inc. is dedicated to restoring even the most damaged and weathered images to their former glory. Utilizing state-of-the-art digital restoration techniques, I delicately enhance and repair photographs, ensuring that every intricate detail is preserved with the utmost care and precision.

Details, details, details

Whether your precious family heirlooms have been torn, faded, or stained over time, Chad Austin, Inc. is committed to revitalizing these treasured pieces of history. The restoration process involves a comprehensive assessment of each photograph's condition, followed by meticulous digital retouching to repair scratches, tears, creases, and other imperfections. CAI pays close attention to maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original image, while also enhancing clarity, contrast, and sharpness to reveal the full beauty of the captured moment. From vintage portraits to historical landmarks, Chad Austin, Inc., works tirelessly to ensure that every restored photograph tells a story that will be cherished for generations to come. The goal is to breathe new life into your old photographs, preserving memories that will last a lifetime.

Small 2x3 faded and scratched photo

Taken in 1967, this 2"x3" photo was needed cleaned and upscaled to an 8"x10" format. A copy of this restored photo and of it's subject, Richard Tucker, can be seen on display at the Hickory Aviation Museum in Hickory, North Carolina.

The photo was first scanned in at high resolution, then obvious blemishes, page wrinkles and spots where the photo had flaked off were repaired. The entire image had the dust and scratches removed, then upscaled 4x times it's original size . Since the color had unevenly faded over time (common) the photo was made black and white and re-colorized from the ground-up. Lastly, since a 2x3 image doesn't scale directly to a 8x10, the photo was scaled to fit within an 8x10 constraint, and A.I.-generated content was used "fill in the gaps" on the left and right sides.

This project took about 2 hours.

Water-damaged photo

This photograph was taen on June 15, 1945, and had been housed in a museum until a flood ruined a lot of its contents, including this picture. The picture suffered from water-damage artifacts, tears, ink bleed-though from writing on the back of the picture, dust scratches, faded image information. Combine this with the fact it looked as though the original image was overexposed when taken. The restoration took over 6 hours.

Robert Zeigler

The original photgraph, taken in 1970, was a 10.5" x 13.5" color photo that had been sitting in sunlight in a display window for decades. The color had faded except for the bottom, but Robert supplied an example sash to use as a color guide. The original was scanned at high resolution (600 DPI) in two passes, then reassembled inside of Photoshop. The scratches and holes removed & the facial anomolies from ink degradation (looked like acne on the face & chin) were repaired. The last steps were re-colorizing and sharpening the image, based-off the sash that Robert supplied.

Poovey's Chapel Baptist Church, Hudson, NC.

The original photgraph was a 4.5" x 4.5" black and white that the client wanted 8.5" x 11". The original was scanned at high resolution (600 DPI), straightened, and had scratches and tears removed & cleaned. A.I. was used to create the missing information surrounding the original photograph so it would measure 8.5" x 11", including sky replacement. The last step was colorizing the image.

After

Middle

Before

Kenneth Litte

This photo is of Kenneth Litte. The fading edges of the photograph had to fixed first, as well as the removal of a few scratches. The photo was then colorized. Image supplied by Eddie Little.