Just over the weekend I took a trip back home after a while and had the chance to go through the family old photo album and was light-hearted for the memories they brought back to me. The sad part is that I couldn’t carry the photos back with me so I had to do what any millennial would do without upsetting the old woman at home– I digitized some of the photos. But really what is the best way to digitize your old photos? It actually depends on how many photos you want to have and how much free time you have to do the process. But hey, before we go into that, let me first enlighten you a little on why it is important to have a digital copy of old photos.
Why You Should Digitize Photos
Taking into account most of us come from a background were taking photos was reserved for big days days like Christmas, where we could attach more meaning/memory to those past days when we grow up. Here are some random thoughts why you should consider the options below to digitize your old photos.
It’s easy to damage physical photos. Water or coffee spilling, discoloration, and accidental tears are all legitimate concerns that could ruin your treasured photos forever. Making digital copies allows you to make as many backups as needed and you have not to worry about the possibility of losing entire family history in event of a fire.
Photo albums, frames, and storage boxes can take up a lot of space at your house. On the other side of the coin, it is possible to store thousands of digital copies of your old photos on a single external drive or buy extra storage space on Dropbox or the alternatives.
Family photos are meant for sharing. Have you ever noticed a pattern with your old buddies or family members, whenever you post an old photo on social media, the hype and comments are really tense and the comments keep coming? Well, the good part of having a digital copy of an old photo is every family member or an old-time friend have access to every photo ever taken.
Digital photos allow you to correct defects and crop out ex-boyfriends or girlfriends as needed. If anyone really goes the extra mile and keep photos of their ex-patners, with digital tech you can now crop them out, I hope you catch my drift. Having digital copies give you the ability to make adjustments that can’t simply be made on hard copy photos.
In all honesty, everyone should consider scanning in at least some of their old photos. It may take some time to get started, but the benefits of having old photos protected shared and edited completely outweigh the costs.
And, you can always start small with your most treasured photos; you don’t need to scan in your entire collection at once and here are the methods you can use to get started.
READ ABOUT: Which is the best Windows 10 anti-virus?
Option 1: Scanning Old Photos using a colored printer
There are a lot of different brands of picture scanners out there with a range of prices and features that can help you as long as you have the financial muscle to stretch a little and grab one for home use. For those who can’t, there are many spots you can scan a photo from the office scanner to places that are dedicated to scanning photos though that comes at a simple cost. However, keep in mind the quality of the scans the printer produces before submitting fully to using them to avoid being upset with the output.
Option 2: Using an App to Digitize Photos
If you just need a way to quickly scan old photos to digital, you may not want to invest any money in a picture scanner. Or perhaps you’re at someone’s home and only have access to your phone at the moment.
Sure, you could always just take a photo using your phone’s camera app. But then you’re at risk of creating shadows, distortion, and glare. Here is a list of apps that will help you to remove such problems.
The apps have features that will help guide you through the scanning process.
- PhotoScan By Google is a huge player when it comes to this and boasts an impressive review on the App Store. They can take multiple photos of each print to help improve quality and correct any distortion. The app is available for download on both Play Store and iOS for free.
- Photo scanner plus by Photomyne is a paid alternative available for iOS users.
