AI Never Met Your Ancestor: Locating Non-Enhanced Images on Ancestry

I'm truly thankful for all those who upload photos of our shared family members. Sure, I like yearbook photos and newspaper images, but "real" photos are still the gold-standard for me. And I prefer them unedited (for the most part - cropping and straightening don't bother me at all). They may be black and white, sepia, or randomly discolored from age. And if the image was originally in color (be it vivid and clear or faded)? I'm quite OK with those as well. However, I don't care for AI enhanced photos in my tree. 

I freely admit, I've played with image colorizing tools (on both Ancestry and MyHeritage). It was an interesting and marginally fun experiment, but ultimately, these images are nothing more than AI interpretation - a guess.  And when it comes to restoring photos, AI can sometimes change little details, like mouth, eyes or ears. While these changes may not be noticeable to someone who's never seen any image of the person before, for some, they're glaring (and sometimes unacceptable) differences. Depending on the need for restoration, AI may still be the best option...but for me, I'd rather it be without any color enhancement. 

I don't save colorized images unless my back is to the wall, and no amount of searching has uncovered the "original". In fact, when I ignore these images, I take time to type in "I don't save colorized photos". I know the algorithm isn't programmed to read the notes we add, but maybe one day.... But a lot of these AI enhanced images are finding their way into user trees these days. In turn they show up as hints to others. If other users like them? It's great for them! I'm all for family historians building trees the way they prefer. Many users seem to like enhanced images. I just happen not to want them in my tree. To work around this, I try a couple different avenues to locate an "original" image.

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First, I'll look at the gallery on the person profile in the original poster's tree. This is really easy to do right from the photo hint. Simply open the image and click on the person's name below who originally shared it, as shown in Image 1. Sometimes, you'll find both the colorized and original images in the poster's gallery. Open the original image and choose "Save to my tree" as shown in Image 2. If you're lucky enough to find it on the first go, you're all set!

But, in some cases, the colorized image is the only available option. My next step is to go to a general search from the person profile in my tree, using the search option at the top right of the screen (the little magnifying glass, shown in Image 3). This will pre-populate details from the person profile in your tree, making the search super simple. 

When the results load, Scroll down to Filters, and select "Pictures" as shown in Image 4. Expanding this section reveals the option for "Public Member Photos & Scanned Documents" (shown in Image 5). This is the option you want! As you scroll thru the results, you have a reasonable chance of finding the original image. It very well may have been originally uploaded by someone completely different than the person who saved the enhanced image. Once you identify the image you want, you can use the same instructions to "Save to my tree".

There is the possibility you won't be able to find the "original" photo no matter how hard you try. It could have been uploaded by a user who deleted their tree before anyone else saved the image, or perhaps the tree was made private at some point. Maybe they colorized and then immediately deleted the original. There are no guarantees. But if, like me, you prefer not to save AI enhanced images, it's really pretty painless to do a cursory search to try and find the original.

I will admit, if photos need restoration, AI can be far easier than some of the (often complicated) photo editing tools. It very well may be the best application for the task at hand. But it's wise to remember, AI never met your ancestor! It wasn't there when the image was captured. It can't know the color of Grandma's dress, or the color of Uncle John's suit. AI can guess, but it can't know for sure. This is why I prefer the original image. The details are left to the imagination of the viewer, just as they were when the images were originally captured and shared with the family.

Do you like AI enhanced images? Do you save them to your tree? Comment or connect with me on my socials and let me know your thoughts!

Image by ZeeShutterz • Framing beauty with creativity from Pixabay