The Free ChatGPT4 AI Tool Can Sharpen and Colorize Faded and/or Black and White Photographs

 In the past decade, there has been a number of free and subsciption wfbsites that can sharpen and colorize faded and/or black and white photographs.  Many genealogists use these services on MyHeritage and Ancestry.com. 

After watching the posts on the Genealogy and Artificial intelligence (AI) Facebook group, many genealogists are now using the free ChatGPT4 AI tool to do this task.  

I asked ChatGPT4: "What effective prompt can I use to have ChatGPT4 brighten a faded black and white photograph and colorize it?"

The ChatGPT4 response was: 

To have ChatGPT-4 brighten a faded black-and-white photograph and colorize it, you can use the following effective prompt:

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"Please enhance this faded black-and-white photo by increasing the brightness and contrast to bring out the details, then apply realistic colorization based on the historical period, clothing styles, and environment shown."

I used that prompt, and uploaded this faded black and white photograph from the 1890s, which I found in the Carringer treasure chest:

 Here is the image created by ChatGPT4 that is sharper, brighter and colorful:

In my humble opinion, that is a beautiful photograph. That is my grandfather, Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976) the little boy on the sled, my great-grandparents Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946) on the left, Abbey Ardell "Della" (Smith) Carringer (1862-1944) on the right, my great-granduncle Harvey Edgar Carringer (1852-1946) in the doorway, and my 2nd great-grandmother Abbie A. (Vaux) Smith (1844-1931) in front.  

I think the date of this photograph is about 1895, and ChatGPT suggested 1894-1895 based on the birth dates of the persons in the photograph and the clothing styles.  The setting is probably a hat shop in San Diego, it may even be the home of Austin and Della, or of Harvey Edgar Carringer. 

Do the faces match the original image?  It's hard to tell, but they are really close, I think.  Are the colors of the people and the clothing reasonable?  Yes, but the actual clothing colors may have been different, but we know only that the clothing on the original photograph were darker than white and lighter than black.  

I'm not an expert on photography or how to sharpen or colorize photographs, but I'm going to use ChatGPT4 to do that job on as many photographs as they permit me to do.  Two a week, one a day?  Maybe.

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Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page. Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.

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