The picture is
still in there.
Faded prints, a photo somebody scanned badly in 2003, a box of tapes nobody has a player for anymore. Most of it is more fixable than people think, and I’ll tell you where yours stands before you pay me anything.
Full frame · 360 × 246 → 2160 × 1476 · drag to compare
Small photos,
made big enough to print.
For photos that are basically fine, just too small, too soft or too compressed. The software does the heavy lifting. I check every one and toss any where it made something up.
The minimum order. Enough to see if it’s worth doing the rest of the box.
- Up to 4× resolution increase
- Noise, grain and JPEG artifact cleanup
- Color cast and fade correction
- Delivered as full-quality JPEG and PNG
About what one family’s loose prints add up to, once somebody actually counts.
- Everything in Handful
- Consistent color across the whole set
- Straightening and edge cleanup
- Organized files with sensible names
For a whole inherited collection, like when a parent downsizes and the albums end up at your place.
- Everything in Shoebox
- Duplicate detection and removal
- Date and album grouping where possible
- Delivered on a USB drive if you want one
Over 200 photos, the price per photo drops. Tell me the count and I’ll quote it.
When the damage is
the whole problem.
Tears, water stains, mold, fading, creases, missing corners, and that specific orange every photo from 1974 has turned. This is hand work, priced per photo, and I quote it from a picture of the picture.
Surface-level problems on an otherwise intact print.
- Fading and color shift
- Dust, specks and light scratches
- Minor creasing
- Contrast and exposure recovery
Real damage, but everything important is still on the paper.
- Tears and missing corners rebuilt
- Water damage and staining
- Heavy creasing across the subject
- Mold and foxing removal
Significant loss, where part of the image has to be reconstructed.
- Large missing sections
- Faces partially destroyed
- Fire, flood and adhesive damage
- Quoted individually, always
Colorization · add $15
Black-and-white photos brought into color. I look up period-correct colors where I can, and you always get the black-and-white version too.
Printed and mailed · from $12
Archival paper, color-managed, shipped in a rigid mailer. Most people who restore a photo want to hold it, too.
What I won’t do: make up a face that isn’t in the photo. If someone’s features are really gone, any tool that “restores” them is guessing, and you end up with a stranger wearing your relative’s clothes. If that’s where we are, I’ll tell you and suggest what can still be done.
Send the shoebox.
Prints, slides, negatives and tapes, turned into files that’ll still open in twenty years. I log and photograph everything when it arrives, nothing gets thrown out, and your originals come back with the drive.
| Photo prints, up to 8×10 | 600 dpi, color corrected, straightenedUnder 100 items: $0.75 each | $0.60 ea |
|---|---|---|
| Slides & 35mm negatives | Dust and scratch removal includedMounted or in strips, either is fine | $0.85 ea |
| Oversized prints & documents | Up to 12×18, flattened and stitched if needed | $3.00 ea |
| Photo albums, page by page | Scanned in place so the layout survivesPriced per page, adhesive albums included | $2.50 /page |
| VHS, VHS-C, Hi8, MiniDV → digital | Up to 2 hours per tape, captured at source quality | $25 /tape |
| Tape capture + AI remaster | The same capture, then upscaled, de-interlaced and stabilizedThis is the one worth paying for | $45 /tape |
| 8mm & Super 8 film reels | Frame-by-frame capture, quoted by footage | from $0.20 /ft |
| Return shipping, insured | Originals plus a USB drive, tracked both ways | at cost |
Before you ship anything irreplaceable, message me first. I’ll tell you how to pack it. If it’s truly one of a kind, I’d rather you drop it off or we figure something else out than trust it to a delivery truck.
Footage that was
shot on something worse.
Video that’s already digital but looks like it came off a tape, a flip phone or a 2009 camcorder. I upscale it, de-interlace it, stabilize it and clean it up frame by frame.
Up to 1080p, de-interlaced and denoised.
- Deinterlacing and frame repair
- Noise and compression cleanup
- Color and exposure correction
- Original audio preserved
Everything in HD, at up to 4K, plus stabilization.
- Up to 3840×2160 output
- Motion stabilization
- Optional 60fps interpolation
- Audio noise reduction
Capture and full remaster of one tape, start to finish.
- Capture included ($25 value)
- Full 4K remaster of the usable footage
- Dead air and static trimmed out
- Chaptered by scene where it makes sense
For comparison, studios usually charge $50–$100 a minute for this. I’m cheaper because it’s just me and one machine, with no storefront.
No surprises, in either direction.
Show me
Send a phone photo of the photo, or the file itself. You don’t need a card or an account.
I give you a straight answer
What’s realistic, what it costs and how long it’ll take. Sometimes that’s “this one isn’t worth your money.”
You see it before you pay
On restoration work you get a watermarked preview first. If it didn’t come out, you owe me nothing.
You get everything
Full-resolution files, the untouched original scan, and your physical media back. Files stay downloadable for 90 days.
Stuff you’re probably
wondering.
Is this just an AI app I could run myself?
Partly, yeah. For simple upscaling the software does most of the work, and that’s why it costs $1.40 to $2.50 a photo instead of the $35 a studio charges.
What you’re paying for is everything around it: knowing which of the four tools fits your problem, noticing when the model has smoothed your grandpa into a mannequin, and fixing it by hand when it has. If your photos are in good shape and you like messing with software, go for it. Come to me for the box with water damage.
How long does it take?
Upscaling usually comes back within 36 hours. Restoration takes two to five days, depending on the damage and how many are ahead of you. Digitizing depends on how much there is: a 200-print box takes about a week from the day it arrives, and tapes take about a day each because they capture in real time.
If you’ve got a deadline, tell me up front and I’ll tell you straight whether I can hit it.
What happens to my photos and files?
They sit on an encrypted drive nobody else can get to. They never get used as AI training data, and they never get posted anywhere unless you say yes. Ninety days after delivery I delete my working copies, unless you ask me to keep them.
If I ever want to show off a before-and-after, I’ll ask you first, every time, and “no” is a totally normal answer. The details are in the terms.
What if I don’t like the result?
With restoration you approve a watermarked preview before you pay, so this mostly doesn’t come up. If you don’t like the preview, tell me what’s off and I’ll take another pass, or we call it off and you owe nothing.
With bulk upscaling, if you’re not happy with a batch, I’ll redo it or refund it. I’d rather lose $25 than have you tell your family this was a waste of money.
Do you do this full time?
No, I work in IT and do this on the side. So this isn’t a lab with a night shift. It’s just me, I’m good at this, and I answer my own email. It also means I’m not paying for a storefront, which is most of why the prices look the way they do.
Do I have to mail you things?
Anything that’s already digital can just be sent online. Prints, slides and tapes do have to get to me. Shipping is fine and I’ll tell you how to pack it, but if you’re local we can meet up instead. For one-of-a-kind originals I’ll always suggest meeting up.
Tell me what
you’ve got.
You don’t need to know which service you want. Just describe it. “A box of my mom’s photos, some of them stuck together” is plenty to go on, and I’ll figure out what it needs.
If you can, email me a phone photo of the worst one. That helps a lot. You’ll hear back from me, usually the same day.
This form doesn’t charge you anything. It just gets you a quote. You only pay once you’ve said yes to a price.