Restoring old photographs with Gemini

Vladislav Shaidurov

— 2 min read
Restoring old photographs with Gemini
My father with his mother, my grandmother, c. 1955

Together with the purchase of the phone, my wife was offered six months of free access to G-mini with all its features. I think Samsung expects that we will continue the subscription afterward. Svetlana ran a small experiment and restored some old photographs. The quality turned out to be much more interesting and natural than what services like Heritage and other similar tools provide.

Grandmother and grandfather on my father’s side

According to Svetlana’s experience, it’s better to clearly state what needs to be done and to describe precisely what the final result should look like. If the result isn’t specified, the restored photo may end up looking too modern. Apparently, it’s important to request an image that is enhanced, corrected, and restored, but still kept as close to the original as possible.

Great-grandfather and great-grandmother on his mother’s father’s side c. 1920

It’s very interesting to see how this field will develop further. Just 10 years ago, when films showed methods of improving photographs—basically turning a completely blurry and unclear photo into a very good, fully detailed, and believable image—it seemed like fiction. Now, with the latest processing algorithms, it no longer seems like a funny joke or fiction. Indeed, in this regard, AI-based photo enhancement algorithms are currently at a very high level.

Great-grandmother on my mother’s side Rostov-on-Don, Russia 1906
My father at the age of three with my grandmother, his mother 1938

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