1928 enlistment group photo restoration — historical color AI can't do

Anyone can run a black-and-white photo through an AI app now, but the results vary wildly. AI makes a photo "pretty"; it does not know the color that was actually there. Studio Davinci restores period-accurate color through its own historical research (32-year standard, since 1994).

This photo is a March 1928 enlistment group portrait — about 100 soldiers in front of Chongmudang, nearly 100 years old. The client asked only that it be done "with certainty and no regret."

The difference from AI is decisive on a group photo. With many faces, AI fails to recognize them and smears the features; it painted the roof tiles red clay — but 1920s hanok tiles were not red. Davinci restores each face individually and returns the tiles to their true blue-grey.

"Historical-research restoration" means verifying the era's architecture, uniform fabric, tile color, and signboard calligraphy before restoring. Here: the 1928 Japanese army uniform's gukbangsaek (a mustard-ochre brown, per surviving records at the Imperial War Museum); reduction-fired hanok tiles in blue-grey, not red; the Chongmudang signboard's original stroke weights; and period brown tones for the eaves and woodwork. The result is not a pretty photo but the photo as that era truly was. Three further client edits were all reflected in the final. Nationwide and fully remote via KakaoTalk.