Automatic photo restoration can make a faded print easier to enjoy, but the adjusted result should not become your only digital copy. Keep a baseline scan so you can compare future edits and distinguish the original appearance from a software interpretation.

Capture a baseline first

Handle the print carefully and use a scanner path that its condition and thickness can safely tolerate. Do not feed a fragile photograph through an ordinary document feeder simply because it fits. Follow the scanner's preparation instructions and avoid applying cleaning products to the photograph itself without appropriate conservation advice.

Scan with automatic image adjustments disabled where the software allows. Confirm that the full photograph is captured and save it under a name that identifies it as the baseline. Keep the file outside the folder where you casually replace working images.

Epson Scan 2 documents Color Restoration for faded photographs and Dust Removal for marks in originals. It also notes that available adjustments depend on other settings. Those descriptions explain what to test; they do not establish that every photograph will benefit.

Judge changes separately

Make another scan or supported working copy with one adjustment enabled. Use a distinct filename. Compare skin tones, clothing, small background details and bright areas with the baseline. A more vivid image is not necessarily a more faithful one.

If you test dust removal, inspect small intentional details as well as obvious marks. Keep the accepted edited version alongside the baseline instead of repeatedly overwriting the same file. Record which correction produced it if the photograph is important to a family or collection.

Review the whole frame before sharing, including the edges where an automatic crop may have removed a handwritten date or border. If there is writing on the back, capture it separately and associate it with the image.

The useful outcome is a preserved source scan plus a clearly identified viewing copy. That gives you room to enjoy an improvement while retaining the material needed for another interpretation later.

Sources: Epson Scan 2 photo adjustments.