How to Bring an Old Family Photo to Life, and When Not To

My cousin posted an old photograph on Facebook a few weeks ago. It was of my father, in his early 20s, sitting there in a sweater, a white shirt, a skinny tie, and a tweed jacket. The picture was taken in the late 1950s. I had never seen it before in my life.

He was so handsome it stopped me.

I had been experimenting with a new kind of AI tool, the kind that takes a still photograph and turns it into a short video. The person in the picture moves. They look around. They can even talk or sing. I had already tried it once, and I had given myself a rule before I started.

I would only ever use a photograph of myself.

That rule lasted exactly as long as it took me to go looking for pictures.

I Could Not Find a Picture of Just Me

Here is something I did not expect. I went through my old photographs looking for one of myself, alone, at the right age, and I could barely find a single one.

Almost every picture I have from those years has someone else in it. A friend. A roommate. My sister. We did not photograph ourselves the way people do now. There were no selfies. Somebody else took the picture that usually included a group of people, and with only 24 shots on a roll of film, nobody wasted one on themselves.

You also cannot use photographs of children on these platforms, which ruled out a whole box of my life.

I finally found one. I am standing in my bedroom at home during my early years of college, talking on a telephone with a cord running to the wall.

What My College-Age Self Had to Say

I wrote a prompt and let the AI give her something to say. She leans into that phone and tells her friend that a boy finally asked her out. She chuckles. She says she will tell her everything later.

That was my life then. I worried about grades, about relationships, about all the ordinary things a college student worries about. Watching that girl move brought it all much closer than it had been in years.

I posted it on TikTok.

The Comments Drew a Line I Had Already Drawn

The reaction was not what I expected. People said it was weird. People said it was crazy. Some asked how I did it. Some said they loved it.

And one comment stayed with me. This is fine, the person said, as long as people do not start bringing back those who have passed away.

I had already decided that for myself before I ever started. I will not use AI to bring back someone who has passed away. Not my relatives, not anyone. That crosses a line for me, and I will not post it.

Seeing a stranger arrive at the same rule on their own told me the line was real, and not just mine.

Why I Asked My Father First

So when I saw that photograph of my father, I did not simply go make the video.

I called him and asked his permission.

He was tickled by the idea. My father just turned 88, and he is still going strong. Golf on Wednesdays. Bowling on Tuesdays. Cards with his buddies on Fridays. He belongs to a traveling football club that follows his home team to other cities. I am blessed and I know it.

Then I chose the music. I had the AI build a song inspired by Sam Cooke, because that was the sound of his world back then. He was a club and bar man in those years, out dancing, the whole nine yards. But I want to be honest about one thing. He never asked for that song. That choice was mine, not his.

Before I posted it, I sent it to my sister. She told me to go ahead.

Some people in my family still will not watch it. That is fair. This technology unsettles people, and I do not think they are wrong to feel that way.

The First Second

I will not pretend I was calm about it.

The first second he moved, I did not believe it. Unbelief is the only honest word I have. A photograph that had sat perfectly still for nearly 60 years suddenly had a living person inside it.

It is not flawless. The generated face is slightly different from the real one. Very close, but not exact. In my own video, the handle of the telephone drifts in my hand.

What My Father Said

I showed it to him on his birthday.

He watched with his eyebrows raised. “Is that me?”

I told him it was a new technology called artificial intelligence, and that it let me make the photograph sing.

He laughed. He was amused by the whole thing.

“Well, look at that,” he said.

No speech. No tears. Just an 88-year-old man watching himself as a young man and finding it funny that such a thing is possible today.

How to Do This Yourself

I used ChatGPT to help me write the prompt and Gemini to make the video. No editing software. No special equipment. Here are the steps.

1. Pick Your Photograph

One person works better than a crowd. A clear face helps most of all. You can start with a picture of yourself.

2. Ask Permission

If the person is living, ask them first, every single time. Mine was tickled. Yours might not be, and that answer matters.

3. Take a Picture with Your Phone

Lay it flat, use good light, avoid glare, and take a picture of it straight on rather than at an angle.

4. Go to ChatGPT.com

If working on your phone, click add file “+” button in ChatGPT and photos. This opens your camera roll. Then click on the image you just took. This adds it to ChatGPT. If you are working on your computer, upload the photo to your computer first. Click the “+” button in ChatGPT and add the photo you just uploaded to ChatGPT.

5. Write Your Prompt

Before you hit enter/return, ask ChatGPT to write you a prompt for the picture attached to turn it into a video in Gemini. Describe what you want the person in the picture to do. For example, dance, talk, sing, play the piano, garden, etc.

My prompt for my dad was simple: Write me a prompt for Gemini to have this person in his early 20s sing an old song that was popular during the late 1950s. That’s it. If you don’t like what ChatGPT wrote, tweak it and tell the AI to write it again. If you get stuck, ask ChatGPT to help you with ideas to turn the image into a video. That is what I did.

6. Open Gemini and Upload the Photo

Go to Gemini, paste in the prompt you got from ChatGPT into Gemini, click the “+” button and upload the same picture.

7. Wait a Few Minutes

It does not happen instantly. You’ll soon see your image come alive.

8. Expect to Try Again

I regenerated both of my images several times before I was satisfied. Change one thing in your prompt and run it again.

It Can Repair the Photo Too

Here is something else worth knowing. The same kind of AI tool can repair an old photograph, not just animate one. Fading, scratches, creases, water stains, a torn corner, a face lost in shadow. Use ChatGPT for this.

Before You Start

Two things I would ask of you.

Ask permission every time, from anyone living whose face you plan to use. And decide your own line before you begin, not after, because you will not think as clearly once you see how well it works.

Your Thoughts:

Is there a photograph in your family you would want to bring to life? And is there one you would leave exactly as it is? Give it a try and let me know how others responded.