Is It Possible To Restore Sun-Faded Photos?

Few things can take you down memory lane quite like old photos you keep stored away somewhere in the attic. Seeing places that shaped your youth, friends, and family members you haven’t thought of in a while can unlock long-forgotten memories instantly.

The only problem is that old photos can rarely keep their charm for long. Photographs tend to degrade after a while, especially if they’ve been exposed to too much sunlight. The good news is that you don’t have to let all your old photos fade away. Professional companies specializing in photography restoration can restore sun-faded photos, bringing back the vibrant colors and beauty they once held.

How does the sun damage photos?

While the sepia tone of old colored photographs may seem to look good, it’s not something you want to see in your most cherished photos. It’s a sign of sunlight damage that will only worsen over time. The colors will continue to fade, and the photo may brighten to the point where it becomes difficult to recognize who’s in it.

It’s no secret just how damaging the sun’s UV rays are, and just like they damage your cells, they damage other materials, like your photographs.

Photos exposed to UV rays will quickly fade, crackle, and lose details. Modern photographs are slightly more resistant to sun-fading, but older ones, with their lower-quality dyes and materials, are highly vulnerable. For a deeper understanding of causes and solutions for light damage to photographs, visit this guide from Archival Methods

Digital photo restoration services explained

When searching for professionals to help with digital photo restoration, it’s important to know where to look and how to choose the right one. You want to be sure they can restore and help you preserve your most cherished memories in excellent condition.

You’ll find freelancers on sites like Fiverr promising outstanding results for as little as $5. But are they truly worth it? Ask yourself this: would you spend an average of one hour restoring a photo for $4, after Fiverr’s $1 (20%) platform fee, not to mention taxes and other expenses? If the answer is no, it becomes clear that many of these freelancers rely on cutting corners. And the results? Often laughable.

While many botched restoration jobs found online—especially through 'near me' search queries—may give the impression that photo restoration involves completely altering the nature of a picture with excessive Photoshop, that’s far from the truth.

Digital photo restoration services like those offered by Pixels Photo Art focus on preserving each photo as close to the original as possible while breathing new life into even the oldest, most faded images. With prices starting at $14.95, this presents serious competition to businesses that rely on a flat-fee model of $150 per photo.

The goal of photo restoration

The goal of an expert restorer is to bring the original photograph back to its former glory by repairing only the damaged parts while retaining the image’s authenticity and avoiding excessive Photoshop manipulation of the details. By choosing the right restorer, your sun-faded photos will look like you took them recently. We've made an article where you can see some of our before-after photo restoration examples to understand what it can be achieved.

Of course, the original photo is kept completely safe in the process as no work was done directly on the photo but rather on its scanned copy.

Color correction 

Photos with only slight sun damage can often be restored with simple color correction. However, photos that have been sitting near a window or exposed to direct sunlight for long periods require a completely different approach and usually need to be fully recolorized. In these cases, the image becomes overexposed, brightening to the point where important details are lost.

If you plan to colorize the photo yourself, our comprehensive guide on colorizing a photo in Photoshop will come in handy. If you lack the experience or the time, our expert colorists and restorers are ready to help.

The restorer will analyze the photograph, assess how the colors have faded, and do their best to add natural tones that bring back the photo’s depth and restore the picture’s original colors.

Color saturation and tone

In some situations, adjusting color saturation and tone is enough to make the necessary corrections. But what do you do when a photo is severely damaged, with deep scratches or missing parts, and is also overexposed from sun damage? In most situations, simple corrections aren’t sufficient, and the photo must be fully recolorized.

Usually, it’s possible to fully restore a sun-faded photo with our help, but depending on the extent of the damage, some elements may differ slightly and will require your feedback and active communication to achieve a perfect match.

It’s affordable!

Though the task of a restorer is rarely simple, sun-faded picture restoration is convenient and affordable. Depending on the extent of damage, the service rarely goes over $60. You can quickly restore your priceless photos, breathing new life into them without breaking the bank.

If you prefer a DIY approach, you can count on our guide for the steps to restore old photographs. It will give you the confidence to revive your cherished photo from the comfort of your own home.

Conclusion

The best way to preserve your oldest and most cherished photographs is to restore sun-faded photos. When done correctly, the restoration stays true to the original photo, repairing scratches and damaged areas so seamlessly that it’s as if they were never there.