Restoring old photographs used to be a time-consuming task — hours spent manually cleaning scratches, rebuilding faded areas, and trying to recover lost detail pixel by pixel. Traditional tools like Photoshop (or in my case, GIMP) were powerful, but slow and often repetitive.

Then I discovered ComfyUI — and everything changed.

What Is ComfyUI?

ComfyUI is a powerful, modular interface for working with Stable Diffusion and other AI models. Think of it as a visual programming tool for AI image workflows. You build your process once, and then use it over and over — no scripting needed (but you can if you want to).

Why I Switched My Photo Restoration Workflow to ComfyUI

Here’s what makes it a game-changer:

  • Batch Processing: I can restore 10, 50, or 100 old images with minimal effort.
  • Prompt-Based Detail Generation: With a carefully crafted prompt, ComfyUI fills in missing detail beautifully — from skin texture to background reconstruction.
  • Non-Destructive Workflow: Every node is reproducible. I can go back and tweak a step without losing my progress.
  • Time Saved: What used to take hours now takes minutes.

To me, this kind of power makes older editing tools feel… well, obsolete.

My Typical Workflow

  1. Scan or photograph the original image
  2. Pre-process: Basic cleanup using GIMP (cropping, leveling)
  3. Load into ComfyUI with a prompt like: “Restore vintage photo, enhance facial detail, remove scratches, natural lighting”
  4. Run my custom workflow: Upscaling, inpainting, detail enhancement
  5. Export before/after images for comparison

Real Examples

I’ll be posting several before-and-after comparisons so you can see the results for yourself.

Each of these images was restored using my AI workflow in ComfyUI — no manual retouching, no Photoshop. Just a smart pipeline and a bit of prompt magic.

Is Photoshop Dead?

Not entirely — but for me, it kind of is. I still use GIMP for touch-ups or annotations, but when it comes to restoring life to old, damaged photos, ComfyUI has taken over.

Want to Try It Yourself?

If you’re comfortable with running local AI models (or want to learn), I highly recommend giving ComfyUI a shot. The learning curve is there, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll wonder how you ever worked without it.

Final Thoughts

AI isn’t here to replace creativity — it’s here to amplify it. With tools like ComfyUI, we’re no longer just retouchers — we’re building intelligent restoration pipelines.

What used to take me all afternoon now takes 5 minutes — and often looks better.

Stay tuned for before/after image galleries and a behind-the-scenes look at my workflow