Time to re-edit old photos?

Ever since digital cameras took over the professional and consumer markets in the early 2000s, the advancements in capturing images have taken many new turns. When I abandoned my Nikon F3 film camera for my first digital camera, the Nikon D1H, around 2003, it not only allowed me to shoot and review the images instantly (something we called chimping), it also made newspaper deadlines easier to meet.

The D1H had an image resolution of 2.74 million pixels, which seemed quite large at the time. Today, my Nikon Z7II’s resolution output is 45.7!

Not only has digital (and now mirrorless) camera technology advanced, in recent years the software used to process images has also made new inroads. The introduction of artificial intelligence is now part of Adobe’s image editing software: Photoshop and Lightroom. Other software companies have also hopped on the AI Train, including Topaz Labs.

This photograph, taken at a kindergarten circus performance in 2006, was shot with a Nikon D1H digital camera. I used Topaz Photo AI to enlarge the file size, remove noise and sharpen.

I recently purchased the Topaz Photo AI software after reviewing a few online reviews by professional photographers. My interest in Topaz stemmed from a desire to enhance some of my favorite photos taken back in the early days of digital photography, when file sizes were small and image noise was large.

I found Topaz Photo AI to be quite simple to use right from get-go. Its simple user interface makes it quick and easy to sharpen images, remove noise and increase the resolution of photos. Because I only shot images in JPEG format in my early digital days, I am limited in what I can do to improve an archived photo. Topaz Photo AI works with JPEGs to allow editing that could be made in Lightroom if the RAW file existed.

This is a cropped image of the original photo taken in 2006. Notice the graininess (noise) in the dark background.

This is a cropped image of the photo edited in Topaz Photo AI.

For newspaper staffers, Topaz Photo AI might be helpful when a reader submits a photo that is low resolution. Topaz has the ability to upscale a photo to four times its original size.

Today I plugged in one of my old hard drives and accessed photos taken during a 2006 photo assignment for the Milwaukee Catholic Herald. "Here Comes the Circus" was a performance by the St. Joseph School kindergarten class in Wauwatosa, Wis. Some of the images were grainy because of the low light, but the assignment is still one of my favorites.

I’ve noticed a few glitches or imperfections in some of the photos I’ve processed with Topaz Photo AI, but I’m sure Topaz will continue to improve the software. I want to clarify that my goal is not to alter images taken in the past. Instead, I see it as going back in time with my Nikon Z7II and reshooting the assignment.

Artificial intelligence does allow photographers to do things such as remove objects from a photo or generate new content. However, I don’t equate removing noise and removing objects from an image as the same. Improving images via post-processing is a subject of debate that goes back to the early days of digital photography. In fact, when photojournalists first began shooting digitally, newspapers like the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel would note this in the photo caption.

Below are a few other photos from the kindergarten circus.

Lion trainer Emily L. holds a hoop through which her lions (classmates Jacob D., Cole G., Johnny H. and Jonathan S.) will jump during St. Joseph School's kindergarten circus.

Three elephants perform a routine with their trainer during the kindergarten circus.

Joey C., one of the kindergarten circus Mighty Men, lifts a barbell with one hand while fellow weight lifters Joseph R., left, George H. and Billy G. flex their muscles during St. Joseph School’s kindergarten circus.