MyHeritage launches second photo enhancement tool

MyHeritage has launched Photo Enhancer, a tool that copies old photos and brings blurry faces into sharp focus.

The company press release says: "Perhaps you have old photos that look grainy or blurred, or photos of large family gatherings with many faces that are too small to recognize clearly. The MyHeritage Photo Enhancer aims to solve these age-old problems and produces phenomenal results that let you see your ancestors more clearly than ever before."

The technology behind this new feature, which enhances photos by increasing their resolution, has been licensed by MyHeritage and integrated into their platform. It complements the recently introduced MyHeritage In Color.

I've used both to improve a battered 85-year-old photo, below, which shows my mam and uncle eating apples one hot summer's day in the early 1930s. In a couple of areas the colouriser hasn't worked, but overall the picture is much improved.

Obviously, no photographs are damaged in the colourising or focussing processes. The original photos remain intact and are not changed by the enhancement process, which creates separate versions alongside the originals.

MyHeritage says their enhancement technology is particularly useful for historical photos where the faces are often small and blurry, but works equally well on new colour photos. On photos in which multiple people appear, enhanced faces can be viewed one-by-one.

The feature works best on photos in which multiple people appear, and enhanced faces can be viewed one-by-one. The original photos remain intact and are not changed by the enhancement technology, which creates separate versions alongside the originals.

I'm not sure yet how these tools handle wrinkles. If it brings them into sharp focus it may not be so welcome, but if it 'removes signs of visible ageing', as some cosmetic companies claim to do, it's a certain winner!