Install Topaz Photo AI, open your most difficult photo in it, let its automatic analysis suggest fixes, then review — and if needed adjust — each of the sharpen, denoise and face recovery settings individually rather than accepting the defaults blindly.
What you need
- A copy of your most difficult old photo — heavily damaged, blurry or noisy
- Topaz Photo AI installed (available as a free trial before purchase)
- A computer capable of running it — it is a demanding app compared with basic photo editors
- 15 to 30 minutes
What Topaz Photo AI is for
Topaz Photo AI is a paid, dedicated restoration tool, separate from Photoshop Elements or your phone’s built-in editor. It is worth trying on your single most difficult photo first, using the free trial, before deciding whether it is worth buying for your wider collection.
How to try it on a photo
- Download and install Topaz Photo AI from Topaz Labs’ website, and open the free trial if you have not purchased it.
- Open your chosen photo — Topaz Photo AI will usually analyse it automatically and suggest which of its tools (Sharpen, Denoise, Face Recovery) it thinks the photo needs.
- Review each suggested tool individually rather than accepting all of them at once — click into each one to see its own strength slider and preview.
- For Face Recovery specifically, check the before-and-after preview closely — this is the setting most likely to make a face look artificial if pushed too far.
- Adjust each tool’s strength down if the result looks overprocessed, following the same idea as in Soften heavy AI restoration so a face still looks right.
- Once you are happy, export the result, and compare it against your original scan side by side before deciding if it is an improvement.
Check the result at full zoom
Compare the Topaz result against the original — is the person still clearly recognisable, and does the photo look like a cleaner version of the same image, rather than a different, smoother-looking image? Check textures like hair and fabric have not turned into a blur or a plastic sheen.
If the result looks over-smoothed
If the automatic analysis suggests very strong settings by default, that is normal — Topaz tends to lead with a strong first pass, and it is meant to be adjusted. If the app runs very slowly, it may be more demanding than your computer’s hardware — try a smaller export size or check Topaz’s own system requirements.
Next step
Compare Topaz Photo AI and Photoshop Elements on the same photo is the natural next step, using this same difficult photo as your test case.
Sources and date checked
Topaz Labs’ own Topaz Photo AI documentation and help articles. Checked 22 September 2026. This is researched from Topaz’s published documentation and general user guidance, not a hands-on test performed on a specific photo for this article.