Repairing scratches is different from inventing a missing face. Decide which damage can be corrected using visible evidence and which area requires a speculative reconstruction. Preserve an untouched scan before any AI processing.
Make a damage map
Mark dust, scratches, faded areas, missing paper and essential identifying features in your own review notes. A scratch across a plain wall presents a different evidentiary problem from a tear through a badge or a person's eye. If another photograph documents the missing feature, collect it with permission and keep its provenance.
Choose an available restoration-oriented Skill if one is currently listed in Imagild's market. Otherwise use the ordinary editing tools for supported corrections or a specialist restoration workflow. Do not assume a historical preset remains available simply because an older article mentioned it.
Write a restrained restoration brief
Ask to retain the surviving face shape, clothing and setting. State that uncertain identifying details should not be replaced with specific symbols or text. This reduces the scope of invention but does not guarantee that the model will honor every boundary.
A fictional family scan has a torn corner containing only wallpaper. Filling that area is lower risk than completing a damaged military insignia. If the family wants an imagined completion of the insignia, keep it in a separately labeled illustrative version rather than the archival master.
Deliver two versions when uncertainty matters
Compare surviving details at full size: fingers, buttons, lettering and facial proportions. A cleaner image can contain an incorrect feature. Ask relatives to check recognized people without telling them that the AI output is automatically more accurate.
Deliver the original scan, a conservative restoration and, if requested, an explicitly identified imagined reconstruction. Record what was changed and which reference supported it. A short note such as “missing background reconstructed” is more useful than a general “AI enhanced” label for future family archivists.