AI Photo Restoration: Next Steps Workshop

"AI Photo Restoration: Next Steps Workshop"

Once you’ve seen what AI can do to an old photograph, the real skill is knowing which tool to reach for — and how to tell a genuine recovery from a confident invention.

This hands-on session builds on the Essentials workshop and goes deeper with FAL.ai , and other AI tools for restoring and enhancing badly damaged photos. Shelly will help you match the right tool to each job — reviving a faded image, repairing damage, sharpening unclear detail, bringing a face back from poor contrast. We’ll run the same photograph through different tools and compare how each one handles it.

On the day you’ll

• work through specific tasks — fading, damage, faces, sharpness, contrast — and learn which FAL.ai tool suits each
• compare outputs from different tools on the same image, and decide which genuinely helps your research
• practise spotting where AI has invented detail rather than recovered it
• learn to keep your originals safe, document what you changed, and use enhanced versions responsibly

How we work

AI can sharpen, restore and reveal — and it can also invent. The whole session is built around that line: enhance generously, verify carefully, and never let a restored image stand in for the original record.

Booking & details

• Cost: Members $17.50  ·  Non-members $25 (kept low so you only pay for the FAL.ai credits you actually use)
• Where: In person — Cook Community Hub (41 Templeton Street, Cook)
• Bring: your own laptop and family photos to work on
• Before you come: set up  accounts with  FAL.ai, ChatGPT and Google Gemini. You may need to add some minimum credit on the FAL.ai account on the day.
• Best for: people who’ve tried an AI restoration tool, attended the Essentials session, or are comfortable experimenting

This workshop is part of our 2026 AI in Genealogy program.The AI in Genealogy SIG explores practical, responsible and creative ways to use artificial intelligence in family history research. Our sessions are friendly, hands-on and suitable for a range of experience levels — from curious beginners to confident experimenters. For more information about the activities of the AI in Genealogy SIG, including details of future events click here 

Family History ACT values the intellectual property of our speakers and the privacy of all meeting participants.
To protect these rights, the use of third-party AI note-taking or transcription tools,  including but not limited to Otter.ai, Read.ai, Fireflies, or similar services is not permitted during FHACT meetings, webinars or events.