I’d start by scanning at the highest resolution possible, using a lossless format so every grit and grain is kept. Then I go through the pixels one by one, tightening up exposure and sharpness only where the original light is genuinely off, never adding anything that wasn’t there. I never touch the mood or the little imperfections that tell a story – those scratches, that faded hat, the tiny cracks. After a clean scan, I keep the raw file as the master, maybe tweak a duplicate for display, but I don’t apply filters or AI “improvements.” The goal is a faithful digital twin, not a polished recreation. If a photograph’s original character is fragile, my job is to preserve that fragility, not erase it.