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June 2009 Issue
Back to Life: Restoring Old Photos is featured in the June 2009 Issue. For information on how you can buy your copy, see the back issues page.

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A Create & Decorate Feature

Dill Pistachio
The following is an excerpt from

Back to Life: Restoring Old Photos

By Erin Manning

Printed photos fade over time, and the emulsion on slides and negatives can dry out and deteriorate. If you’ve been storing your pictures in shoeboxes, albums, or frames, there is a good chance your precious photographic memories are faded or damaged. Don’t lose hope—technology can easily bring your old photos back to life.

Scan

Fig 1
Fig. 1. Unless you have a slide carousel, it's difficult to view
thse old images. Scan and print them instead!
Scanning printed photos, slides (Fig. 1), or negatives digitizes the images, converting them to files that can be stored on a computer, CD, DVD, or memory card. Once the conversion has been made, you can organize, enhance, preserve, and share your images. Fortunately, there are many options for scanning, and some don’t even require you to purchase any equipment!

Personal Scanners: From multifunction printers to dedicated film scanners, there are many scanning options to choose from. Some scanners even let you scan images without a computer. Be sure to install the driver CD that comes with your scanner to ensure it will function properly with your computer. Scan your photos at high resolution (300 dpi or higher), even if you don’t plan on printing them right away. Why? Even though computer monitors display at only 72 to 96 ppi, most printers produce around 300 dpi for a sharp print. You can always make a copy of a high-resolution image for on-screen display, but you can’t increase the resolution of an existing image to print! (Note: Print resolution is referred to in dpi—dots per inch, whereas monitor resolution is expressed in ppi—pixels per inch.)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. There are many affordable scanning services online,
such as ScanDigital.com, which will scan your photos,
as well as clean and make adjustments.
Online Scanning Services: A Web search yields a variety of scanning services. I recently used ScanDigital.com to scan and clean up my old photos, and had a great experience (Fig. 2). Just send them your old prints, slides, or negatives (they also accept videotape and other old film mediums) via a trackable shipping service like UPS or FedEx. ScanDigital does an excellent job scanning, cleaning, and adjusting images, and the results had good color, contrast, and detail. The scanned images can then be viewed and downloaded online, and they are also stored on a CD, which is sent back to you with your originals.

Scanning Kiosks: From Wal-Mart to mom-and-pop photo labs, retail stores now offer scanning services. Remember to order scans at 300 dpi or higher!

There is one thing you need to keep in mind when it comes to scanning photos produced by professionals: copyright issues. Generally, it is a violation of copyright laws to copy any photo that contains a photographer’s logo or watermark (instead, contact the photographer to order prints or scans). Most scanning services provide an indemnity clause in their service terms placing the responsibility on the customer for violating any copyright laws. Proceed with caution and review your rights at the US Copyright Office online at www.copyright.gov.

– END OF EXCERPT–

For the complete article on Back To Life: Restoring Old Photos pick up the June 2009 issue of Create & Decorate.