How to Bring Old Photos to Life with Deep Nostalgia

Looking for a way to add life to your still photos? Here’s our step-by-step guide on how to bring photos to life with Deep Nostalgia and why it’s a must-try. 

In today’s guide, I’ll show you how to bring photos to life with Deep Nostalgia and how it can up your game in photo editing. 

We’ve heard about editing software like Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. Social media apps like Instagram have multiple filters that allow you to achieve a desired image mood.

However, most of these tools focus on image enhancement. They can beautify and improve image texture, so they look polished and sleek for social sharing.

Deep Nostalgia is all that – but better. Let’s dive into this tool and see how you can use it. 

What is Deep Nostalgia?

Deep Nostalgia is a unique feature offered by the genealogy platform MyHeritage. It allows you to upload old photos and make still faces do all sorts of expressions like smiling, head tilting, and blinking.

It’s backed by an intuitive AI that analyzes still photos and adds pre-determined gesture sequences that fit the photo’s orientation. 

While you can use any photos on your device, Deep Nostalgia’s primarily designed to add life and personality to old family photos taken by traditional cameras.

• Related: Photomyne Review | App to Scan, Restore & Share Old Photos

Three Methods to Bring Photos to Life Using Deep Nostalgia

You don’t need advanced photography or editing skills to use Deep Nostalgia. Here are three ways to use it.

Deep Nostalgia Page

1. Visit the Deep Nostalgia page and click ‘Upload Photo.’ 
2. Sign up or log in to your MyHeritage account using your email or Facebook account.
3. Wait for a few seconds for the tool to load your image. 
4. Your animated photo automatically plays as soon as it’s loaded. 
5. Hover over it to pause and examine it closely.
6. If you’re unsatisfied with the animation, click on the ‘Go to my Photos’ link on the left side, just below the ‘Download Video’ button. 
7. Locate the image you want to edit and hover over it.
8. Click the magic wand icon that appears on the photo’s lower right. This brings you to the editing page. 
9. You’ll see three buttons above the image: Enhance, Restore Colors, and Animate.
10. Try any of the three until you arrive at your desired animation. 

MyHeritage Website

1. Go to the MyHeritage website and open an account for free.
2. Once logged in, hover over the ‘Photos’ tab in the menu bar.
3. Click ‘My Photos.’
4. Click the ‘Upload’ button on the right side of the screen to add a photo.
5. Hover over the image and click the wand icon on the bottom right to start editing. 
6. Repeat steps 9 and 10 from the previous method. 

MyHeritage Mobile App 

1. Download and open the MyHeritage – Family Tree app. 
2. Sign up or log in using your email or Facebook account.
3. Provide details of your immediate family members – mom, dad, etc. 
4. Once done, you’ll land on the home page with five icons representing the app’s features: Tree, Discoveries, DNA, Photos, and Research.
5. Click ‘Photos.’
6. Tap the plus button on the lower right side of the screen to add or scan your photos. 
7. Select the photo you want to work on and click ‘Upload.’
8. Once the image is on the app, tap it once to maximize it.
9. You’ll see three editing icons on top of the image. Tap the leftmost icon to activate the Nostalgia effect.
10. If you want to change the animation effect, click the ‘Animation’ link on top to choose alternative options. 

How Long Does It Take to Bring Photos to Life With Deep Nostalgia?

It doesn’t take long to see results. Once you’ve uploaded an image, the system only takes 10 to 20 seconds to load and animate it. 

However, it might take you more minutes to decide on the final effect you’d like to use for the image, especially if you’re using premium plans with various animation styles. 

• Related: 13 Incredible AI Photo Tools to Try

What Are the Editing Features Deep Nostalgia Has?

All photos uploaded on the tool, regardless of the subscription plans and devices, are automatically enhanced.

This means the tool analyzes all images and transforms them into their best possible versions with smooth textures and maximum clarity.

Here are four main editing features you’ll have fun playing around with across different devices:

• Enhance: This one’s an automatic feature once you upload the photo. It takes care of issues like image exposure and clarity. 
• Restore Colors: This brings back the original colors or shades in your photo before uploading it. Since the tool automatically enhances the images on upload, there’s a chance that contrast and shadows are altered to deliver more precise results. 
• Animate: This is the core of the Deep Nostalgia effect and is divided into General and Special animations. General animation has ten styles, available for free. Special animations, on the other hand, require a paid subscription to unlock ten advanced gestures like Kiss and Wink, Eyebrows, Approval, and more. 
• Photo Repair: This comes in ‘Gentle’ and ‘Extensive’ repair models. The former removes visible marks and scratches on your photo’s subject, while the latter goes even deeper, giving the face a flawless finish. 

Can Deep Nostalgia Animate Multiple Faces in a Single Photo?

Deep Nostalgia can animate different faces in a photo but not simultaneously. You will need to set them up separately.

You can do this by tapping the face of the person to whom you want to add the animation. Once done, you can choose another face and so on.

If you’re working on the web version, you can easily identify the people you’ve already animated by looking at the bottom of the main photo. 

This will show you faces with a play button, indicating that you’ve already worked on them. 

Is It Safe to Use Deep Nostalgia?

There’s an ongoing debate about this AI tool’s safety in publishing photos. Are the images safe? Will other people have access to them? Issues with deepfakes have emerged in social media, and it worries many people.

MyHeritage, fortunately, uses multiple safeguards in its system. You’re the only one allowed to access and edit your photos. 

Besides, Deep Nostalgia only employs ‘approved’ facial movements, and users can’t build their own. This reduces the risk of having people altering somebody else’s face to create a fake. 

Is Deep Nostalgia Free to Use?

You’re entitled to a 14-day free trial from when you created your MyHeritage account. This gives you access to 10 animation styles and limits you to up to five image uploads. The MyHeritage logo watermark will also be present in your output. 

After the free trial period, you’ll be required to subscribe to the MyHeritage Complete Plan, which costs $199 for the first year and continues at $299 yearly. 

The premium plan allows unlimited image uploads and access to all new animations as they’re added to their collection. Output is logo-free, which is a must for professionals.

5 Reasons to Try Using Deep Nostalgia

Every picture paints a story, and Deep Nostalgia tech makes it a moving memory. Whether you’re using an old family photo or editing faces of historical people for fun, this tool gets the job done.

Here are five reasons why this tech is worth all the hype and why you should try it:

1. The illusion of realism is unmatched. Deep Nostalgia makes every subtle smile, head tilt, eye movement, and eyebrow raise look so natural you’ll think it’s real-time video. 
2. It’s beginner-friendly. Everything feels automatic with a single-click functionality. You don’t need any technical skills to make it work.
3. The tech behind the tools uses deep learning that replicates real-life facial gestures, allowing it to blend with the photo while keeping the original material’s pristine condition.
4. It’s not limited to old photos. You can use it on any image taken by your smartphone.
5. Deep Nostalgia is becoming more popular on social media, a good avenue to gain exposure and attract followers by creating animated photos.
6. This tool’s just getting started. With AI use only beginning to flourish, you’re guaranteed that the styles available are only going to get better. 

Final Words

AI makes bringing old photos to life now possible, and Deep Nostalgia’s a frontrunner in this arena.

Hopefully, this guide gave you an idea of how to share those old family photos in a more vibrant and captivating way. 

Have you tried using Deep Nostalgia? Let’s hear about your experience in the comments!