diff --git a/ldm/simplet2i.py b/ldm/simplet2i.py
index 8aad3557af..ffec5fda2b 100644
--- a/ldm/simplet2i.py
+++ b/ldm/simplet2i.py
@@ -305,7 +305,12 @@ class T2I:
                     iter_images = next(images_iterator)
                     for image in iter_images:
                         try:
-                            if gfpgan_strength > 0:
+                            # if gfpgan strength is none or less than or equal to 0.0 then 
+                            # don't even attempt to use GFPGAN.
+                            # if the user specified a value of -G that satisifies the condition and 
+                            # --gfpgan wasn't specified, at startup then
+                            # the net result is a message gets printed - nothing else happens.
+                            if gfpgan_strength is not None and gfpgan_strength > 0.0:
                                 image = self._run_gfpgan(
                                     image, gfpgan_strength
                                 )
diff --git a/scripts/dream.py b/scripts/dream.py
index f6feb10adc..5d5e8db4a5 100755
--- a/scripts/dream.py
+++ b/scripts/dream.py
@@ -496,7 +496,7 @@ def create_cmd_parser():
     parser.add_argument(
         '-G',
         '--gfpgan_strength',
-        default=0.5,
+        default=None,
         type=float,
         help='The strength at which to apply the GFPGAN model to the result, in order to improve faces.',
     )