How to restore color and sharpness of old photos

[satimis]

Hi all

Please advise how to restore old color photos.

I have old color hardcopy photos converted to digital copies using an android phone connected via an USB cable to Ubuntu 24.04 desktop PC with remote desktop. This setup works for me without problem. Copies of 3 digitized photos are attached here as example.

I expect to retouch them adding colors on the fade colored photos as well as making the photos more sharp . Please advice.

I'll not print the edited photos but using them building digital slideshow only.

Thanks in advance.

Regards

[Dennis N]

I use a program named Upscayl. It's one of my favorite programs.

Upscayl is a powerful image upscaling tool that uses advanced AI technology to enhance your images.

It not for editing colors.

Learn more:
Webpage:
https://upscayl.org/

It's available as a Flatpak.

[satimis]

I use a program named Upscayl. It's one of my favorite programs.


It not for editing colors.

Learn more:
Webpage:
https://upscayl.org/

It's available as a Flatpak.

Hi Dennis N,

Thanks for your advice.

There are websites offer FREE online sharpening photo service, using AI technology. I use their service frequently but the color of the photo gone. Please refers to attached screenshots, before and after editing. The blue sky was added by me, also using FREE online service.

Regards

[Dennis N]

Personally, I don't want to send my images to someone else to process. Its a privacy thing.
I'm wondering, do you get options for an AI model to use with the online method? Upscayl has 6 models. You can get different results depending on the model used.

[Dennis N]

I tried your original image in Upscayl and I think I can get a much better result. Using Fast Real-Esrgan. You should try it out.

For corrections to contrast, gamma, saturation, color balancing etc. I use gthumb. Easy.

[satimis]

Personally, I don't want to send my images to someone else to process. Its a privacy thing.
I'm wondering, do you get options for an AI model to use with the online method? Upscayl has 6 models. You can get different results depending on the model used.

They are auto-proceeded after you selecting the option.

[satimis]

I tried your original image in Upscayl and I think I can get a much better result. Using Fast Real-Esrgan. You should try it out.

For corrections to contrast, gamma, saturation, color balancing etc. I use gthumb. Easy.

Hi Dennis N,

I'll install and test Upscayl on Ubuntu 22.04. I don't know whether it works here.

OpenShot and GIMP (both REPO and Snap versions) are unable to work properly on both Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 on my daily working PC, this PC. I suspect whether it is the problem of this PC. That is why I'm planning to build a new PC.

I have 2 drives on this PC, one running Ubuntu 24.04 and another Ubuntu 22.04. Anyway I'll test Upscayl on Ubuntu 22.04.

Whether following online document is suitable for me to install Upscayl ?

Enable snaps on Ubuntu and install Upscayl
https://snapcraft.io/install/upscayl/ubuntu

Edit
===
Could you please post the edited image here? Thanks

Regards

[Dennis N]

I installed Upscayl as a Flatpak. Works great.

[dmn@Sydney ~]$ flatpak search Upscayl
Name            Description                                    Application ID             Version        Branch        Remotes
Upscayl         Free and Open Source AI Image Upscaler         org.upscayl.Upscayl        2.11.5         stable        flathub

For your image, I used Fast Real-Esrgan and 2x scaling. I would have attached it, but the file size and dimensions are too large for the forum.

[satimis]

I installed Upscayl as a Flatpak. Works great.

[dmn@Sydney ~]$ flatpak search Upscayl
Name            Description                                    Application ID             Version        Branch        Remotes
Upscayl         Free and Open Source AI Image Upscaler         org.upscayl.Upscayl        2.11.5         stable        flathub

For your image, I used Fast Real-Esrgan and 2x scaling. I would have attached it, but the file size and dimensions are too large for the forum.

Hi Dennis N,

Performed following steps:-

$ flatpak search Upscayl

Name   Description                     Application ID     Version Branch Remotes
Upsca… Free and Open Source AI Image … …g.upscayl.Upscayl 2.11.5  stable flathub

$ flatpak install flathub org.upscayl.Upscayl

....
.....
Installation complete.

It went through without complaint untill finish

$ upscayl

Command 'upscayl' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo snap install upscayl

$ Upscayl

Command 'Upscayl' not found, did you mean:
  command 'upscayl' from snap upscayl (2.11.5)
See 'snap info <snapname>' for additional versions.

Unable to start Upscayl

Regards

[Dennis N]

Flatpaks will put an icon in the Applications menu, or search for Upscayl from the overview screen. So you launch it like any other application.

If you really want to start it from the terminal, you have to use the flatpak command with the run option and the application id, not the program name. Not the best way. Like this:

flatpak run org.upscayl.Upscayl

(If run this terminal command on my system, I get numerous irrelevant system messages in the terminal. But it starts.)