Scanning Old Photos

[ScrapperSisters]

On my last visit to my grandparents, I came home with literally 200+ old photos(and there are who knows how many more that I left there). Most of which had been stored in old magnetic albums for 50+ years...I really need to back them up some how, some of them have already turned yellow. I don't want to loose these priceless treasures!

So my question is where sould I have them scanned??? Anyone have a favorite place??? While we lived in TX I used MotoPhoto, but there isn't one here.( I tried using Walmart, as that is the closes thing to us, but the prints were terrible and so were the scanned images on disk).

Any suggestions would be most welcome! Thanks!

[jtaubman]

If you have a lot to do I would buy a reasonable scanner, it will work out cheaper in the end and you have a lot more control. If you search for scanners here you will find lots of discussions on the subject.

The most important thing to do with old photos is to work with your grandparents to identify all the people in the photos. There is nothing worse than a 100 year old photo of someone you don't know.

Get the photos out of the old albums ASAP and put them in archival quality wallets. If there is still glue on the back try to GENTLY remove as much as possible.

[Janet]

Yes, get them out of the acidic environment they're in! That's the first step. Then, you can work to remove the adhesive from the back with PEC-12 (you can get this at http://www.gaylord.com or http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com) Gaylord also has Bookkeeper Deacidification Spray, which you might ask them about in regards to the photos. It's mainly for books/newspaper, but they might know if it'll work for the photos as well. I'm not sure on that.

It's really a great experience to scan in your own photos -- but if you aren't into doing that, it is a service I do offer through my business. Link is in my sig.

[ScrapperSisters]

Lots of these photos are from my great-grandmother, she went through and wrote the names of all the people either on the side of the photo or on that person :-/ She wrote these names with a ball point pin (anyone know how to get that off???) I know that it wasn't acid free...

I have already removed the photos from the magnetic albums, they came out with out much trouble do you think that I should still do the PEC-12???

I'm still trying to deside on scanning at home or having them done...

Thank you all for the help!

[Jeanne Pamer]

I inherited many heritage photos and have fixed them. Once the pictures are scanned, you can use any photo editing program and clone out the writing.

You are lucky that the pictures came out so easily! I had a WWII portrait of my DFIL that was so fragile, I had to cut around the cardboard, then scan.

Hint: Visit with your grandparents and have them tell you the stories BEHIND the pictures & jot down little notes. I wish that my MIL would have shared with me! Copy and burn those files using the Windows method (compatible with any Windows PC) That way family can veiw them too. They will love you for it!

[Pam]

I so agree with Jane. Even though the photos have names on them I would see if memories are triggered by your grandparents or family members that you can use for your journaling - oh so important.

Software will color correct and careful cloning will remove the writing and many tears or scratches. The worst mistake I made (you'll invest a lot of hours scanning) is making the photos too small! To get a good print you'll need 200+ ppi to print even the same size as the existing photo.

I changed way too many of mine to 72 ppi because they looked ok on the monitor (and I didn't know any better - I didn't realize that a monitor only shows that many pixels per inch whereas a printer can print many many more pixels per inch for smooth printing). So I now have some wonderful slideshow quality copies -- but if I want to create layouts and prints, I'll have to scan again.

I'd also keep a copy of your original scans (they'll be LARGE files) on CDs or an external hard drive - because, as you learn more about your software, you may want to go back and redo your edit (after the scan). Even the scanning process is very time intensive.

[shazzt]

If you have handwriting on the backs of your photos, make sure you scan that too - not only do you preserve the information but you can extract the handwriting using your image editing program and use to as a caption for the photo on any layouts that you do - so you have your great grandmother's handwriting right there on the page! I've done this on a couple of pages:

Architect (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=52835&cat=500&ppuser=1660) - my gg grandfather - that is his actual signature that I extracted from a copy of a document I had
Summer's End (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=46356&cat=500&ppuser=1660) - it is a bit hard to see but the caption of the photo was extarcted from the back

[ScrapperSisters]

Thank you all for all the help!!!! I am very greatful!

Please if you can think of anyother helpful hints on scanning or perserving these photos would be wonderful!

Thank you!

[jfricker]

I do have a suggestion if you do decide to scan the pictures yourself and purchase a scanner. Get a scanner that has the Digital Ice feature. This
feature will remove scratches etc and you won't have to manually do this.
Janet has a favorite that she likes to use, so you might ask her.

I purchased a new scanner last year (didn't know about digital ice then) and it is great, but it does not have that feature. I so wish I had it.

[MaureenH]

I've scanned thousands of photos, heirloom and just old. The biggest mistake I made is to not scan at a high enough resolution. A photo should be 300 dpi for printing so if you are scanning a 4x6 that you might someday want to enlarge to an 8x10 (scrapping on 12x12 for example), you would want to scan it at 600 dpi. We were so amazed when I started enlarging the old photos at details we saw when enlarging. The smaller the photo is, the higher the dpi scan. I scanned tiny tin types at 2500 dpi that were totally black to the naked eye with amazing results.

For about $100 you can get 200 gig of external hard drive for storage. A cheap alternative considering the time spent scanning and the value of these digital files. Once scanned everyone in the family and extended family can have digital or print copies of the heirloom photos (which is why I originally started scanning).

I didn't have much time when I got the heirloom photos so I took the box of photos and sat down with my parents and grandparents and tape recorded their conversation when looking at each photo. Individually they said they didn't remember anything about the photo but as a group one person's memories triggered anothers. Now I have the tape recordings and can transcribe whenever I have time. Also maybe sometime add their real voices to their photos in a digital file.

[jfricker]

What a great idea Maureen. I need to try and do that with my 91 year old Mother. I am sure grateful that I have been able to ask her questions about alot of the pictures I have gotten from her. But, a voice recording would be wonderful.

[dobegal]

I can't tell you how great it is to have a voice recording of my mom. I didn't record her while asking her questions about photos, (wish I did) but after she passed away, she had a tape in her non-digital answering machine. I think it is important to have both the photo and voice, if at all possible.

[Diginellie]

My mother wrote on the back of all her photos - I scan the writing and then turn it into a brush - so easy and looks great as journalling on your Heritage LO's

[dobegal]

Great idea Helen!

[Art-C]

Shazzt,

I LOVE the layout of your grandfather. What a wonderful story. That is definitely something that needs to be preserved and you did a great job both telling the story and your layout with his signature.

Great job!!!

[Careoline]

Is there anyone that can comment on the affect of scanning on the original photograph? I am wondering if there is a deterioration of the photo's emulsion/pigments from the intense light of the scanner?

[LadynRed]

Scanning old photos is pretty safe, the amount of time they're on the scanner and the intensity of the light isn't enough to do any real harm. Prolonged exposure, extreme temperature variations and humidity do far more damage to old photos.

I have a ton of old photos, some dating back to the mid-1800's. The only ones I was really worried about scanning were the tin-types and daguerrotypes which degrade badly when exposed to light over time. I spoke with a guy who does restorations on these and he said it's safe to scan them. At least if you scan them before they go completely black, you'll have preserved that picture for many, many more years to come.

[6poptarts]

i did a 50th wedding anniversary album for my inlaws. i sent an email to every friend and family i could think of, and i received many many priceless old photos and cards, and letters.

ultimately i bought a scanner which ended up saving a TON of money. and like sharon mentioned, DEFINATELY scan the backs. really old penmanship is so beautiful and is a precious part of our family history.

good luck!

[ScrapinB]

Hello, Hun
I too have gotten my hands on old photos from my mom. Sad to say they were in very bad conditon. Negelect to take care of these photos. I found redish purplish coloring and yellow. My determination to make these better. I have Corel Paintshop. I found a handy plugin that was located int the histogram. Color and the option fade correction. I did it at the setting of 45. I had my mom look at the photo and low and behold it was exactly the same color of the dress of that day and time.
I hope this helps with the colors of the photos.

[Vallie]

Ooooo, that sounds good Sametra! I use PSP too and never look at the histogram at all. I'd better check it out. I'm always finding new stuff in that program! Thanks for the tip. :)