What to do with old photos?

02 Apr What to do with old photos?

Do you have old photos?  I don’t mean the ones you took last year, or even ten years ago, I mean the ones you got from your parents or grandparents or even great-grandparents.

In looking at these pictures there are several issues: they are usually faded, sometimes creased.  Sometimes you don’t even know who the people in the pictures are!!

So how to start working on these old pictures?

The first thing that needs to be done is to have the pictures scanned using a photo scanner.  One option is to get the Flip-Pal portable scanner and scan the pictures yourself.  For instance, the picture to the left is a photo which was taken in the 1960’s and scanned with the Flip-Pal, at 600 dpi.

Once scanned, if the pictures are only slightly damaged, you could do it yourself, using applications such as Photoshop Elements or Vivid-Pix.  Enhancements in Photoshop Elements results in this picture (right):

If the picture is very faded or creased or damaged in some other way, it needs to be sent to a professional photo restorer.  Some examples of photo restorers are:  Old Photos Repaired or  Hollywood FotoFix.

The next thing to think about is to understand who is in the photo and how to share the photos.  To find out who is in the picture the best way to find out is to ask older relatives.  If this is not possible, detective work is necessary to decipher context clues – where was the picture found?  Were there papers or documents around it?  What are people wearing?  Where are they located?

Sharing the completed, restored picture is the really fun part! 

The picture could be printed and framed, it could be added to a photo book especially if there is a story that could be written around it, or it could be etched into a crystal.  Here are additional suggestions of things you could do with old pictures to keep memories alive.

If you have any questions or would like help or guidance, please contact me at PreciousMems.com.