Restore an Old Slide Photo

How it works

1. 1

   Scan the slide, or photograph it on a light box

   A flatbed or dedicated slide scanner gives the most detail. No scanner? Lay the slide on a phone screen showing a plain white image, or a light box, and photograph it straight on with the room lights off — JPG, PNG, or WebP up to 7MB. Crop loosely; the mount edge can stay for now.

   Expect: Dust, a colour shift, and moderate underexposure all recover well because the image is still on the film. A slide that has gone almost entirely red or blue comes back plausible rather than exact — the AI rebuilds the lost colours from what is left. Shadows that scanned as solid black stay black: there is no detail there to bring up.
2. 2

   Describe what is wrong with the scan

   Name each defect you can see: 'restore this old slide — remove the dust specks and hairs, correct the red colour shift so skin and whites are neutral, brighten the dark exposure, and crop out the mount edge. Keep the people and the scene exactly as they are.' Slides usually carry two or three problems at once; naming them is what stops the AI guessing.

   Tip: Big fix, then small fix: colour and exposure first, then a second pass for dust and the mount edge if the first result is busy.

   Copy one of these to get started:

   Full slide restoration restore this old slide scan — remove the dust specks and hairs, correct the colour shift so skin tones and whites are neutral, brighten the dark exposure, and keep the people and the scene exactly as they are

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   Red or magenta colour shift correct the strong red colour shift in this old slide scan so skin looks natural and whites are clean, keeping everything else unchanged

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   Blue or cyan colour shift correct the blue-cyan colour cast in this old slide scan and restore natural skin tones and a neutral white balance, leaving the scene as it is

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   Dark, underexposed slide brighten this underexposed slide scan — open up the dark shadows and bring the faces to a natural brightness without blowing out the sky, keeping the colours and the scene unchanged

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   3 more prompts

   Dust and hairs only remove all the dust specks, hairs, and small scratches from this scanned slide and leave the colours, exposure, and everything else exactly as they are

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   Crop out the mount crop this photo of a slide to just the picture area, removing the cardboard mount edge and the light-box border, and straighten it so the edges are square

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   Phone photo of a slide on a light box this is a phone photo of a 35mm slide on a light box — crop to the picture, remove the glare and the light-box border, correct the colour shift, and restore natural brightness while keeping the scene exactly as photographed

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3. 3

   Check the skin, the shadows, and the sky

   Old slide film loved saturated colour, so a correct result looks rich but not neon. Skin should read as skin, whites as white. Look into the shadows: they should have opened up without going grey or grainy. If the sky has gone an odd green, ask for a light second pass on the sky alone.

4. 4

   Use a marker for a stubborn speck or a scratch

   A hair lying across a face, or a scratch in the emulsion, can survive the general cleanup. Tap a marker on it and say 'remove this hair, fill in with the surrounding detail.' Markers are optional and only for the one flaw the description did not reach.