AI for Genealogy: AI Photo Magic That Made My Mom Cry

When I enhanced a damaged 1920s photo of my great-great-grandmother using AI, my mom started crying. "It's like meeting her for the first time," she said. "I can see she has the same nose as me."

This isn't just another episode about AI photo enhancement – this is your complete step-by-step tutorial for transforming blurry, damaged family photos into crystal-clear windows to your ancestors' lives.

🎯 Three Complete Walkthroughs You'll Master:

BEGINNER: MyHeritage Photo Enhancer

• Exact interface navigation and account setup
• Drag-and-drop upload techniques for best results
• Face-by-face analysis for genealogy discoveries
• In Color tool for historical dating clues

INTERMEDIATE: Remini Mobile App

• Complete smartphone enhancement workflow
• New strength adjustment controls for natural results
• Scratch repair and damage restoration techniques
• Portrait vs. General mode selection guide

ADVANCED: Adobe Photoshop Neural Filters

• Filter > Neural Filters complete walkthrough
• Photo Restoration settings explained step-by-step
• Smart Filter output for non-destructive editing
• Professional archival workflow preservation

🔍 Real Results You'll Achieve:

• Transform water-damaged photos into research goldmines
• Reveal facial features proving family connections
• Colorize black and white photos for historical context
• Enhance group photos to identify unknown relatives
• Restore scratched family heirlooms to poster clarity

💡 The "Sarah Method" Breakthrough Process: Named after my great-great-grandmother, this systematic approach combines three AI tools for maximum genealogy impact while maintaining historical accuracy.

🎓 Perfect For: Genealogists, family historians, AI tool beginners, mobile photography users, Photoshop learners, ancestry researchers seeking practical photo restoration skills.

⚠️ Golden Rule Integration: "AI is your research assistant, not your researcher." Learn responsible AI use that enhances traditional genealogy methods without compromising historical integrity.

📝 This Week's Assignment: Follow the MyHeritage walkthrough using your family photo. Document discoveries: resemblances, background details, research leads.

🔮 Next Week: "Teaching AI to Read Great-Aunt Mildred's Cursive" - AI handwriting transcription tutorials.

📧 Contact & Connect: Email: ancestorsandai@gmail.com Website: https://ancestorsandai.com/

🏷️ Keywords: AI photo enhancement, genealogy tools, MyHeritage tutorial, Remini guide, Photoshop neural filters, family photo restoration, ancestor photo repair, historical image enhancement, genealogy AI, photo colorization, damage restoration, facial enhancement, mobile photo editing, family history technology

⏰ 30 minutes | 💰 Free trials available | 🎯 Beginner to Advanced

Connect with Ancestors and Algorithms:

📧 Email: ancestorsandai@gmail.com
🌐 Website: https://ancestorsandai.com/
📘 Facebook Group: Ancestors and Algorithms: AI for Genealogy - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1335660028119456/

Golden Rule Reminder: AI is your research assistant, not your researcher.

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Transcript

Last month, I enhanced a 1920s photo of my great-great-grandmother, Sarah, that had been sitting in a shoebox for decades. The image was so dark and damaged, you could barely make out her features. But when I showed the enhanced result to my mom, she actually started crying. She said, It's like meeting my great-grandmother for the first time. I can see she has the same nose as me. That moment made me realize something important. It's not enough to know these AI tools exist. You need to know exactly how to use them to get results like that. Today, I'm going to walk you through the exact steps I used, every button click, every setting, every decision, so you can have that same breakthrough moment with your own family photos. Welcome back to Ancestors in Algorithms, where we don't just talk about AI tools. We learn to use them together, step by step. I'm your host, Brian. your host, Brian. And today's episode is different. Instead of telling you what AI photo enhancement can do, I'm going to teach you exactly how to do it yourself. We're going hands-on with three tools from beginner to advanced, and I'll walk you through every single step. If you've been intimidated by these AI tools or tried them and got disappointing results, this episode is for you. We're going to start with the absolute basics, and work our way up to professional-level techniques. So, open up your computer, have a family photo ready to work with, and let's dive in together. Before we jump into the tools, let me tell you the full story about that photo of my great-great-grandmother, Sarah, that made my mom cry. This wasn't just any family photo. It was the only photo we had of Sarah, taken sometime in the 1890s, and it was in terrible condition. The photo was so dark and grainy that you could barely make out any facial features. There were water stains, tears, and honestly, looking at it, you'd think it was just a shadow of a person rather than someone who lived and breathed and loved her family. My mom would always look at this photo with frustration. She'd say, I wish I could see what she really looked like. I wish I could feel connected to her somehow. And you know what? I felt the same way. It's hard to research someone when they feel more like a name on a document than a real person. But here's what happened. When I used AI enhancement on that photo, suddenly, we could see Sarah's facial features clearly. We could see her nose shape, her eyes, even the style of her hair. That's when I realized our golden rule matters more than ever. AI is your research assistant, not your researcher. These tools helped us see Sarah more clearly. But the emotional connection, the family stories, the research context, that all came from us. So today, instead of just telling you about these amazing tools, I'm going to teach you exactly how to use them. I want you to have your own Sarah moment with your family photos. All right, let's get started with my heritage photo enhancer. I'm going to assume you've never used this before. So we're starting from the very beginning. Open your web browser and go to myheritage.com forward slash photo hyphen enhancer. Then hit enter. Don't go to the main MyHeritage site. Go directly to that URL. You'll see a page with a big photo frame and an upload photo button. If you don't have a MyHeritage account, you'll need to create one. It's free for basic use. Click upload photo and you'll get a pop-up asking you to sign up. You can use your email, Facebook, or Google account. Whatever is easiest for you. Here's something important. You can either click upload photo to choose a file from your computer or simply drag and drop a photo into the photo frame. The drag and drop method is actually faster. Now, let me give you some tips for the best results. The photo I'm using is a 1925 family portrait where the faces are about the size of a dime in the original. MyHeritage works best on photos that feature multiple people and the enhanced faces can be viewed one by one. Once your photo uploads, here's what you'll see. After enhancement, you can drag the slider across the image to see the before and after effect. Or, click the buttons above the photo to toggle between the original and the enhanced version. Let me walk you through what just happened. The MyHeritage photo enhancer is powered by deep learning technology that enhances photos by upscaling them, increasing their resolution. This produces exceptional results for historical photos where the faces are often small and blurry. Enhanced faces can be viewed one by one. Look below your enhanced photo. You'll see individual face thumbnails that the AI detected. Click on each face to see a close-up of how the enhancement worked on that specific person. This is where it gets exciting for genealogy. In Sarah's photo, I could suddenly see that she had a very distinctive nose shape that I'd never noticed before. The same nose shape my mom has. The AI didn't make this up. It revealed details that were always there, but too blurry to see. That's what created the emotional breakthrough moment. However, since the enhancement is a simulation done by algorithms, its results may be inaccurate and, in rare cases, even distorted. Use these enhanced images to spot details and research clues, but always keep your original photos for documentation. Now let's add color to our enhanced photo. MyHeritage's InColor tool makes colorization accessible by allowing users to colorize photos with a simple tap or click. Using AI, the tool also restores hues in color photos whose details have faded over time. Visit MyPhotos in your MyHeritage family site under the Photos tab in the navigation bar or in the MyHeritage mobile app. Find your enhanced photo and click on it. The algorithm will automatically recognize if your photo is black and white or in color. If it's black and white, your photo will be colorized. If it's in color, the colors will be restored. Non-subscribers will notice a watermark of the MyHeritage logo on the bottom right of their enhanced photos, while complete subscribers will be able to produce enhanced photos that are logo-free. The colorization gave me important research clues about Sarah's photo. The AI determined that her dress was likely navy blue based on the fabric patterns and lighting, which helped me date the photo more accurately since navy was a popular formal color in the mid-1920s. Now let's move to Remini, spelled R-E-M-I-N-I, which is primarily a mobile app. I'm going to walk you through this on your phone because that's how most people will use it. Download and install the Remini AI photo enhancer from the respective app store or Google Play. The app has a high rating of 4.6 and over 100 million downloads. Launch the app and press the Enhance icon on the screen. You'll see a clean, simple interface. This is one of the things I love about Remini. It's designed to be user-friendly. The Remini app offers a 7-day free trial for users to generate AI images. To enable the free trial, users must provide their debit or credit card details, but they won't be charged if they cancel before the trial period ends. Here are the steps to restore old photographs with the Remini app. Step number one, launch the app and press the Enhance icon on the screen. Next, upload the old image you want to restore. You can choose from your camera roll or take a new photo of a physical print. Step two is cropping. After uploading, you can use the cropping tool to resize the picture before enhancing it. This is particularly useful for group photos where you want to focus on specific faces. Step three, press Enhance and the process will start immediately. Remini will display the before and after interactive screen. Let me tell you what's happening behind the scenes. Remini Photo Enhancer utilizes deep learning algorithms to analyze and enhance old photos by automatically adjusting various aspects such as sharpness, color balance, and resolution. It can restore faded colors, reduce blurriness, and even fill in missing details in damaged areas of an image. Remini has recently added strength adjustment controls so you can fine-tune how much enhancement is applied. This fixes the previous issue where enhancements could look overly dramatic or unnatural. Here's a tip. You can restore physical pictures with scratches and damages using the Scratch Fix feature. You can also improve the overall quality of an old portrait using the Portrait icon. I tested Remini on several different types of family photos. First, a group military photo from World War II where faces were tiny. A damaged wedding photo with water stains. A faded color photo from the 1970s. The key is choosing the right enhancement mode for each photo type. Remini provides various features to enhance the quality of your photos and videos. It can transform blurry or damaged photos into high-definition versions along with noise reduction, color correction, and facial enhancements. For genealogy work, I found the Portrait mode works best for individual or small group photos while the General Enhancement works better for larger family gatherings or outdoor scenes. Now, for the advanced technique, Adobe Photoshop Neural Filters. Don't worry, I'm going to break this down into simple steps. Step one, open a Photoshop document and select an image. Make sure the image is in Unlocked Layer and Rasterize. Step two, open the scanned image in Photoshop and go to the Layers panel. Then go to Image Layer, right click, Duplicate Layer, or Control J on Windows, or Command J on Mac. This preserves your original image. Step three, with the image loaded, go up to the top and select Filter Neural Filters. The Neural Filters panel will load on the right side of Photoshop. Next, select Photo Restoration from the list should be under the Restoration section towards the bottom. Any filter that shows the cloud icon next to it will need to be downloaded from the cloud before you can use it the first time. Simply click on the cloud icon to download each filter you plan to use. The first set of controls available will determine how much enhancement is needed on the photo from contrast adjustments to scratch reductions. Let me walk you through each slider. Photo Enhancement applies the normal adjustments that are required for these types of images such as increasing the contrast. Next on the list of options is the Enhance Face option which operates similarly to Photo Enhancement Slider. However, is tuned to work on faces so that they don't become lost in the image. Scratch Reduction is a slider which targets any scratches and works to sample and remove them from the image. From the image. We left Photo Enhancement at its default value of 50. We reduced Enhance Face to 15 to preserve more of the original film texture. Adjust Scratch Reduction to about 20. A progress bar at the bottom of the image may indicate that it will take a little while. The second set of controls available will determine how much restoration is needed on the photo from noise reduction to artifact reduction. The first slider in the photo is also chosen to scratch reduction to about 20. A progress bar at the bottom of the image may indicate that it will take a little while. The second set of controls available will determine how much restoration is needed on the photo, from noise reduction to artifact reduction. The first slider in the photo restoration options of this filter is noise reduction. This does not specifically target color noise as that is the next option. On the other hand, color noise reduction specifically targets any color noise that may be introduced. Your resulting edits are saved as output in one of the following ways. Current layer. Destructively apply filters onto the current layer. New Apply filters as a new layer with a mask of the generated pixel output. Smart filter. Convert the current layer to a smart object and apply filters as an editable smart filter. New document. Output filters as a new photoshop document. For output choose smart filter and then click ok to exit neural filters. This keeps everything non-destructive. To toggle between the before and after preview for each filter click on the preview mode icon in the lower left corner of the gallery. The neuro filter approach gave me the most control over the restoration process. I could selectively enhance just the faces while leaving the background untouched, preserving the historical context of the photo. Let me share the most important things I have learned from months of hands-on experience with these tools. File preparation matters. Scan your photos at 1200 dpi if they're smaller than 4x6 inches. The AI needs good source material to work with. At least 600 dpi if you can't go to 1200 dpi. 

Start simple. Build complexity. Begin with MyHeritage to learn the basics then move to Remini for mobile convenience and finally try Photoshop when you need professional control. Layer your approach. I often use multiple tools on the same photo. MyHeritage for basic enhancement, Remini for facial details, and Photoshop for final cleanup. Always preserve originals. Never replace your original scanned image. These enhanced versions are research tools, not historical documents. Renewation should you choose to accept it for this week's homework assignment is to choose one blurry family photo and walk through the complete MyHeritage process I showed you today. Specifically, go to myheritage.com/photo-enhancer. Create your free account. Upload your photo using the drag and drop method. Use the slider to compare before and after. Click on the individual face thumbnails to see the details. If it's black and white, try the in color feature. And finally, save your results and document what you discovered. What I want you to look for is: you see family resemblances you hadn't noticed before? Are there background details that might help with research? Did the colorization give you clues about the time period? Share your results. I'd love to hear about any discoveries you make. Email me at ancestorsnai at gmail.com. Your breakthrough might help another genealogist. Whew, what a journey we've taken today. We didn't just talk about AI Photo Enhancement, we actually did it together. And, hopefully you now understand how I was able to create that emotional moment with Sarah's photo that made my mom cry. It wasn't magic, it was knowing exactly which tools to use and how to use them properly. The most important thing to remember is that these tools are incredibly powerful, but they work best when combined with solid genealogy research methods. Use these enhanced photos to spot clues, identify people, and notice details. But, always verify your findings through traditional genealogy sources. Next week, we're diving into something that will revolutionize your document research. Teaching AI to read Great Aunt Mildred's cursives. We're going to walk through, step by step, how to use AI tools to transcribe those impossible-to-read handwritten documents, old letters, diary entries, and census records with terrible handwriting. I'll show you exactly which AI tools work best for different types of handwriting, how to photograph documents for optimal results, and the specific prompts that get the most accurate transcriptions. Until then, have fun with your photo enhancement homework. Remember to preserve those originals, document your process, and, most importantly, enjoy discovering new details about your ancestors. This has been Ancestors and Algorithms, where we learn AI tools together, step by step. I'm your host, Brian, and remember, AI is your research assistant, not your researcher.