Redditors Resurrect Family History With Beautiful Photo Restorations

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By Beckett Mufson2013-12-13 10:30:01 UTC

In this digital age, everything we do is recorded for posterity in the vast archives of the Internet. In 50 years, our children will be able to look back on our lives through the archives of sites like Facebook and Flickr.

Past generations have not had this luxury. Many of their memories are locked in finite scraps of photo paper, just one small house fire or an angry ex-girlfriend away from oblivion. These old photos rarely stand the test of time, becoming wrinkled, torn or discolored with age.

See also: Enchanting Colorized Photos Breathe New Life Into History

The Redditors of r/Picrequests are fighting the flow of time — with Photoshop.

This small, but devoted, community of Photoshoppers restore damaged images to their former glory. Any Reddit user can scan the pieces of a ripped up or wrinkled photo and post it to the subreddit. From there, several of the community's Photoshop artisans usually accept the challenge and repair the image, free of charge.

The Photoshop wizards of r/picrequests not only work for free, but also frequently get little thanks from those they help.

"Sometimes people are extremely grateful, sometimes not so much," says Reddit user Gingerma, who repaired a torn up photo of a man's deceased wife. His contribution earned him a mere 20 upvotes and no response from the original poster.

When pic requesters do thank their Photoshop saviors, however, it can be spectacular. Dave Humphreys, a.k.a. Unhi, spent three hours restoring an 87-year-old sailor's headshot, which was posted by the man in the photo's grandson. When he received the restored photo, he posted this video in thanks for Humphreys' sweat and tears:

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Image: Reddit, stevieboy1984

Topics: colorize, Conversations, family, history, Photos, Pics, reddit, restore, Watercooler