Have old photos to scan? Before you do, wipe off any dust or fingerprints with a soft cloth to get the clearest scan possible. Give your scanner a dusting while you’re at it.
3 apps to digitize physical photos and negatives
Your smartphone makes it easy to share photos with anyone at any time. But unless your phone is your first camera, you may have some old negatives. You can get them developed or scan them into your phone to view and share easily. Tap or click here for tips on converting negatives into digital photos.
A physical scanner is one route you can take to digitize your photo collection, but (surprise, surprise) you can also use an app. Here are three great options.
PhotoScan by Google Photos
Google
Google’s PhotoScan is a free app for iOS and Android that scans your photos multiple times, then stitches all the images together to remove glare and improve the quality of the final image. The app works on matte, gloss prints and photos inside or outside albums.
RELATED: Tech how-to: Colorize old black-and-white photos
You take the initial picture of the image with your smartphone, then take four additional shots according to the app’s instructions. The app uses an algorithm to detect and crop the photo area, automatically detect the edge, correct the rotation and correct the perspective to show a frontal view.
PhotoScan is as easy to use as taking a photo with your camera:
- Open the PhotoScan app and hold your phone above a photo.
- Tap the capture button to take pictures, which will save them to your device.
- Move your phone around to get the circle over each of the four dots.
- After the photo is processed, tap the photo thumbnail.
- Select a photo to rotate, adjust the corners or delete.
You can use Google Photos to store and organize your scans. From there, you can edit your images and share them with others.
Best apps to convert old photos and negatives to digital
Forget scrolling through your phone’s endless photo gallery to find something. Here’s a pro trick to locate any photo you want in 30 seconds or less.
If your photos aren’t backed up, this is your reminder to do it now. You’d be heartbroken should you lose all those memories. Tap or click for the foolproof steps to make the job easier.
Your old photos are worth money to AI
Big tech will pay top dollar for your cringey Myspace pics. Plus, how to file a claim in Walmart’s $45 million lawsuit (you could get $500), phony AI image generators run wild on Facebook, and Disney+ stops password sharing. And all the weird stuff you can gamble on online!
I’m too techy for the catwalk: Models are ditching IRL runways for “AI fashion.” Upload some old photos to the platform and get paid for your likeness in AI-generated fashion campaigns. Hmm. Should I upload some pics from the ‘90s?
Tech how-to: Colorize old black-and-white photos
Does your family have a collection of vintage photos you’d like to modernize with color? Maybe you have some old black-and-white pictures to which you’d like to add color for creative effect.
No matter the why, transforming an image with the addition of color can make all the difference in the world.
Tech tip: Convert your old film negatives into digital photos
Preserving old photos, films and videos is an art form in and of its own. If you stumble upon a cache of old film negatives, you may start to research the best preservation methods. If so, prepare to be blown away by what you find.
Quick photo tip: Digitally restore old photos
Does your family have old photo albums? Have you ever spent time looking at all the old black and white or wonderful vintage sepia-colored images?
Old pictures capture lovely moments in time, like your serious-faced ancestors. They posed for their first photo with the family’s first Brownie or Polaroid camera. While it’s great to look through all those snapshots, it’s sad to see how faded, scratched or torn some can be.
4 ways to digitally restore old photos
There’s a lot of gold in your old family photo albums. It might be hard to believe at first when you look at those old black and white photos. They’re not nearly as vivid or eye-catching as digital pictures — but you can change that with a little editing magic!