Show HN: I thought merging two photos with AI would be a weekend project. Nope(animateoldphotos.org)
animateoldphotos.org
Show HN: I thought merging two photos with AI would be a weekend project. Nope
https://animateoldphotos.org/add-loved-one-to-photo
1 comments
Nice work
I went home and tried it myself. With a well-written prompt and two good photos, it works. But real-world use cases aren't two good photos — it's a modern family photo plus a damaged old portrait, or two old photos from different decades. That's when things fall apart.
I looked at existing tools. Most showcase merges between clean, well-lit, modern photos. Nobody was solving the hard version: mismatched eras, damaged sources, different poses, different formality levels.
I thought it would be a weekend project — one system prompt and done. After 200+ test iterations I realized stable results require much more than prompt engineering. The main challenges:
The AI subtly changes faces during merging. The result looks "similar" but isn't the same person. For someone trying to add a deceased loved one, that's a complete failure.
Posture and scale need to match. If the group is sitting on grass and the added person is standing like a giant, it's obviously fake.
Casual accessories from a reference photo break formal scenes — sunglasses on the head at a wedding, sportswear at a ceremony.
Old photos have low resolution, damage, and no color. Merging, restoring, and colorizing at the same time makes everything harder.
It supports headshots, half-body, and full-body reference photos. Old and damaged photos work too — with optional colorization and restoration.
Still an MVP. Free to use once per day, no login required.
https://animateoldphotos.org/add-loved-one-to-photo
Would love to hear about edge cases that break it.