About AI versions

Every photo on Old Brisbane opens as the original: the image the State Library of Queensland or Queensland State Archives holds, unaltered. Some photos also offer versions made with AI. You choose them from the switch at the top left of a photo, and they're always labelled.

Repaired (AI)

Old prints and negatives pick up scratches, dust specks and creases. For the repaired version, one AI model finds that damage and another (LaMa) fills in only those spots from their surroundings; the rest of the photo is untouched. The fills are a guess at what was underneath, and now and then the model mistakes a real detail for damage, so check the original if something matters.

Enhanced (AI)

The enhanced version is the repaired photo enlarged to twice the size by an AI model (SwinIR), which removes grain and sharpens edges and lettering. It works from the photo itself, but it can invent fine texture that wasn't in the original, so treat close-up detail with care.

Pictures printed in newspapers and books (made of halftone dots) get neither version, because the models treat the dots as damage. Nor do photos where the repair changed too much.

Colourised (AI)

Some photos have a colour version. An AI model (Qwen-Image-Edit) suggests colours for the scene, and we lay only those colours over the photo: every shape, face and letter is the original's. The colours themselves are the model's guess, not a record of what anything really looked like. Where a photo has an enhanced version the colour is laid over that, so those are labelled "Enhanced & Colourised (AI)".

Every colour version has been looked at by a person before going up. Ones where the AI got things clearly wrong (smeared colour, invented lettering) were left out, which is why only some photos have one.

Zooming into originals

When you zoom into a State Library photo, we load a larger copy of the library's own scan. That's still the original, with no AI.

Labels

AI versions show a label while you view them, and carry a small mark in the corner of the image itself (for example "AI-colourised · oldbrisbane.au"), so the label stays with the picture if it's saved or shared. Grids, search results and share previews always use the original.

Questions, or a version that looks wrong? Email info@snookmz.click.