This is great news fresh out of the MyHeritage oven!

As you know, in the past year, MyHeritage has transformed genealogy with our game-changing photo colorization and enhancement features. These features have delighted users all over the world and have been applied to 30 million photos. 

Today, we’re thrilled to announce the release of yet another revolutionary photo feature: color restoration, which beautifully restores the colors in faded color photos. Unlike colorization, which simulates colors of black and white photos, the new color restoration feature is ideal for restoring scanned photos from the 1950s to the 1990s that were originally taken in color, but have faded over the years. This gives you the chance to revive your favorite moments from the days before digital photography. With color restoration, you get the authentic colors revived in seconds, and no colors are guessed in the process. As a bonus, color restoration also sharpens photos and improves their level of detail. When color restoration is applied, the original photo is left intact and a separate copy is created with the restored colors.

Over time, old color photos tend to fade. Bright and vibrant hues from decades past turn different shades. UV light can affect the chemical makeup of printed photos, causing them to turn sickly yellow and lose their colors. With color restoration on MyHeritage, even the most worn out color photos can come back to life, with exceptional results.

Color restoration is a powerful new addition to MyHeritage In Color™, our photo feature for colorizing black and white photos. The color restoration technology was licensed exclusively by MyHeritage from DeOldify deep learning experts Jason Antic and Dana Kelley, who also developed the world’s #1 colorization algorithms, that were licensed and integrated into MyHeritage. Colorization and color restoration technologies work differently but both make clever use of artificial intelligence.

When you upload your photo, MyHeritage first applies technology to quickly determine automatically if the photo is black and white (or sepia) or was originally taken in color. If the photo was originally taken in black and white, then you will have the option to colorize it, and if it was originally taken in color, you can choose to restore its colors. 

Please see some incredible examples in our blog post here and read more information in the press release below.

I invite you to share the news with your followers so that they can try color restoration now.

Please also find a video you can embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPzFPXKTijg

Enjoy,

Daniel Horowitz Genealogy Expert  

MyHeritage Releases Color Restoration Feature to Bring New Life to Faded Color Photos

MyHeritage In Color™ expanded, now beautifully restores faded color photos using AI technology licensed from DeOldify

Tel Aviv, Israel & Lehi, Utah, January 25, 2021 — MyHeritage, the leading global service for discovering your past and empowering your future, announced today the release of color restoration for faded color photos. A major enhancement to MyHeritage’s advanced suite of photo tools, color restoration revives the authentic colors in faded photos, with exceptional results.

Color restoration is ideal for old color photos from the 1950’s through the 1990’s, where the chemistry of printed photos stored in albums did not withstand the test of time and caused the colors to fade or turn yellow. The technology for color restoration was licensed exclusively from DeOldify, created by deep learning experts Jason Antic and Dana Kelley, and was integrated into MyHeritage. It accurately restores a photo’s original colors and sharpens the image in the process. Color restoration is a powerful new addition to MyHeritage In Color™, the company’s flagship photo feature for colorizing black and white photos, which was also developed by DeOldify and licensed exclusively by MyHeritage.

MyHeritage In Color™ and another AI-based feature, the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer, were released last year and have been used by consumers over 20 million times. Both have gone viral, received high acclaim, and have inspired a renewed appreciation for historical photos among consumers.

“In 2020, MyHeritage became the top online destination for colorizing, enhancing, and sharing historical photos,” said Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage. “The addition of color restoration to our robust suite of photo features offers the incredible opportunity to bring cherished childhood memories back to life, and to share the beautifully revived photos with our family and friends. Nostalgia doesn’t get any sweeter than this!”

“We’re thrilled that our cutting-edge color restoration model will be enjoyed by the community as part of MyHeritage In Color™”, said Jason Antic and Dana Kelley, founders of DeOldify. “So much effort has gone into creating this software, and we can think of no better partner for bringing it to the market than MyHeritage, a company that is defined by innovation and whose mission is to make family history more accessible to people all over the world.”

Integration into the MyHeritage platform

Millions of people around the world use the MyHeritage platform to discover their family history and digitally preserve their family photos. With world-class technologies for colorizing and enhancing photos, and now with the addition of color restoration, MyHeritage offers cutting-edge tools that provide new perspectives on family history.

Color restoration is available on the MyHeritage platform on the web and on MyHeritage’s free mobile app for iOS and Android. The mobile app includes a built-in scanner so users can digitize family photos stored in physical albums. When a photo is uploaded to MyHeritage, the system automatically determines if the photo is black and white (or sepia), or was originally taken in color. Photos that were originally black and white can be colorized, and those that were taken in color can have their original colors restored. Color-restored photos can easily be shared with family and friends on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and other social media. Restoring colors does not modify the photo, but creates a separate copy on MyHeritage alongside the original.

MyHeritage In Color™ is a freemium feature on MyHeritage. Users can restore the colors in 10 photos for free, after which continued use requires a subscription.

About MyHeritage

MyHeritage is the leading global discovery platform for exploring family history. With billions of historical records and family tree profiles, and with sophisticated matching technologies that work across all its assets, MyHeritage allows users to discover their past and empower their future. Launched in 2016, MyHeritage DNA has become one of the world’s largest consumer DNA databases, with 4.7 million customers. Since 2020, MyHeritage is home to the world’s best technologies for enhancing and colorizing historical photos. MyHeritage is the most popular DNA test and family history service in Europe. www.myheritage.com

MyHeritage

Rafi Mendelsohn

Director of PR & Social Media

Phone: 917-725-5018

Email: pr@myheritage.com

Knowledge Base

With the release of Genetic Groups this month, the MyHeritage DNA test now offers the richest and highest resolution ethnicity reports in the industry. You can now pinpoint your origins across 2,114 geographic regions, right down to specific cities or districts. This feature is the result of 3 years of hard work and meticulous research by MyHeritage’s Science, Product, and R&D teams.

The Knowledge Base resources below offer deeper insight into DNA analysis and how MyHeritage is able to produce such comprehensive results.

The Founder Populations Project: How MyHeritage Estimates Your Ethnicities: This article explains how MyHeritage is able to identify where your ancestors came from based on your DNA.

The World Wide DNA Web: In this webinar, Alon Diament Carmel, Ph.D., from the MyHeritage Science team explains how MyHeritage uses its vast database of DNA Matches to identify genetic groups.

How Does a DNA Test Work? The Basics of DNA Explained: This webinar with Diahan Southard of Your DNA Guide offers a layperson-friendly explanation of the scientific principles behind DNA testing.

The new year is the perfect time to approach your family history research with fresh eyes and make new discoveries. We hope that you find your new and improved results inspiring — and that the above resources help deepen your understanding and appreciation of the wealth of information you can gain from DNA testing.

Did you know that you can now buy a MyHeritage membership as a gift for a family member or loved one? It makes a perfect gift for a special occasion, and is one they are sure to treasure. Click here to learn more about the MyHeritage gift membership.

Happy New Year!

Daniel Horowitz
Genealogy Expert

Throughout an exceedingly difficult year, family history became an increasingly important outlet for people and helped them remain connected to their loved ones. At MyHeritage we worked hard to fill that need by developing new features, adding historical records, and giving back to the community. Read more about what we did in 2020 in our year in review blog post: https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/12/2020-myheritage-year-in-review/   Please feel free to share the link to the blog post, and the following info graphic, with your followers.

I wish you and your family the best for this coming 2021!

Happy New Year!

Daniel Horowitz
Genealogy Expert

I am delighted to announce the addition of two new collections of Norway Census records —  the 1875 Norway Census and the 1870 Norway Census. Digitized in collaboration with National Archives of Norway (Arkivverket), the 2 million records in these collections include high-quality scans of the original documents.

Search the new Norwegian Census Records

The collections hold particular interest as they cover a unique time in Norwegian history. The largest single wave of emigration from Norway occurred between 1879 and 1893. Spurred on by the promise of new opportunities, 250,000 Norwegians left Norway for other countries like the U.S. The 1875 census offers the opportunity to catch a snapshot about these Norwegian ancestors while they were still in Norway. For those in the U.S. and abroad with Norwegian heritage, this census collection may unlock important details about their Norwegian roots.

Beyond their historical significance, the collections are important as they contain details that are not often found within a typical census collection. In addition to listing the person’s name, residence, position within the family, gender, marital status, and occupation, the census also includes information on languages spoken, birthplace of the residents, and their birth years. In specific cases, even medical conditions are listed. Also included are individuals who were temporary residents of the household or those registered to a household who may have been absent at the time of the census count. This means that a single individual may have been listed in more than one entry, if they were visiting another home at the time the census was taken. 

Please find the official blog post here with some nice example records from this collection.
We would be grateful if you share this news.

With the release of these collections, and the recent release of 42 million Norway Church records, MyHeritage now offers 246 million records from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, making MyHeritage the market leader for Scandinavian family history.

Searching the Norway Census Records on MyHeritage is completely free. If you have a family tree on MyHeritage, our Record Matching technology will notify you automatically if records from these collections match your relatives. To view these records or to save records to your family tree, you’ll need a Data or Complete subscription.

Enjoy,

Daniel Horowitz