By Nanci Dixon
When we cleared out our house to begin our full-time journey, one of the hardest things we had to do was leave behind the mammoth number of family photo albums. After they languished in a storage locker for two years I did a “what if” measure of just taking cell phone camera photos of the most important pages in the albums “just in case.”
That actually worked pretty well, even through the acetate. I set up in a shady area, under the awning so the sky didn’t cause reflections, hand-held my phone and snapped away. Since I didn’t do all of the pages or all of the photos, I had enough memory on my phone to keep them. We have thoroughly enjoyed scrolling through them the last couple of years.
Now, the storage unit is gone and I know my sister wants all those containers moved out of her house. Time to do it again…
System to record photos
This time I set up a better system to record the photos. I bought a small, cheap copy stand on Amazon (this one) to hold the phone steady in a down position. I love this stand! It will also hold the phone vertically like a mini tripod. It can also be used for group selfies, timed or long exposures, video or Zoom calls.
There are a couple of ways to easily record the images…
The simplest is just setting the camera up horizontally near a window, adding a white card to bounce light back from the window into the photo and then snap away. Remember to get a height that will allow slightly different photo sizes without changing your setup and far enough away that it can autofocus.
A good idea is to take a few shots and then look at them while enlarging some areas to see the focus and exposure.
Adding lights
Only slightly more complex is adding lights. Considering the number of photos and the time to record all of them, I wanted to only do it once. So I bought a pair of small, foldable, inexpensive LED, dimmable lights, again from Amazon, to put on each side of the copy stand. That keeps the amount and the color of the light consistent from one photo to another.
I found that the most accurate method was using a medium-gray surface to put the photo on. All cameras, even cell phone cameras, average the exposure to a neutral 15% gray. If the camera was determining the exposure for a light photo—for example, a light shot on snow—it would make the snow scene darker, resulting in a gray tone. If it were a dark scene, the camera would make the exposure lighter. Having a medium-gray surrounding the photo helps neutralize that.
I add the lights to each side of the photo at the same distance apart, skimming over the image rather than hitting it directly, check for glare, and let the very sophisticated cell camera determine exposure, color balance, and speed.
Let the camera do the work
I went through extensive testing with apps that allowed me to choose exposure, speed, color balance, and ISO (sensitivity to light) manually before deciding it worked just as well to let the camera do the work instead of me.
My camera automatically downloaded the images to my computer, and I later backed them up to a hard drive. Moving the images to a flash drive would work, too.
Now my son will be the proud owner of all those crates of albums—of course, only until he wants them gone too. And if disaster should strike, we now have our family memories digitally saved.
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RVDT2810
Has anyone tried an app for restoring old photos that will bring back the faded color and remove scratches? If so, how successful was it?
Yes I do that often and I have colored some old black and whites. Faded color is fairly easy. Scratches can be easy, medium or very difficult. It works best if you scan in the original photo. RAW is best way to scan.
Thanks, Jim. I didn’t think of using a scanner. I’ll check into the Canon scanner you suggested in another comment.
If you wuld like, I would work on a scratched photo of yours. Let me know
So kind of you to offer. I don’t know when I’ll get to the photos. I am slowly decluttering the house and photos are near the bottom of my list. I’ll save comment so I can get back with you when that time comes.
For a quick way, this is a good one. For a better way, a flatbed scanner, which are not that expensive. We full time RV and I carry a Canon Lide Scanner.. works great and quick.. hooks right into the laptop. I organize right away
For preserving history, Nanci’s method obviously works, requires little investment (assuming you already have the phone). One additional tip. Use a level to make sure the photo and the phone are parallel to each other, or you will get a keystone effect.
It is not inexpensive, but if you have a decent scanner, Vue Scan software can correct a lot of defects.
Thank you for repeating Nanci’s article. Originally, I thought that scanning photos was as good, if not better than this setup yields. Now, I am not so sure. Depending on the price, this may be worth buying. Thanks again, Emily and Nanci. Have a great day, safe travels, and grand 2026!
I have been scanning family photos for probably 30 years or more. I have also done cell phone copies when I couldn’t get a photo to the scanner. I have no doubt whatsoever that scanning will normally give you a better product. You can easily scan multiple photos at the same time, and then save as individual photos as you crop, enhance, etc as you go. You can buy a 3-in1 printer/scanner/copier for as little as $50 if you don’t already have one. Or you could just buy a photo scanner if you won’t be scanning larger photos.
For Christmas I got a KODAK SLIDE N SCAN Digital Film Scanner for Color and B&W Negatives (135, 110, 126) and 50 mm slides. RODFS50 is the Item # shown on the box. I am in the process of doing over 5,000 slides, and it also does photo negatives although I haven’t tried that feature yet. I can do 300 in less than an hour. It puts them directly onto a SD card, then you can load them directly to your computer if you want. Available on Amazon at https://amzn.to/4slkKUn
We converted our albums using a scanner and it worked well. Unfortunately, the digital copies are pretty much as neglected as the paper versions. They refreshed a memory or two while they were being scanned and now they’re amongst the thousands of other photos that we swore we’d cherish to the end of times. Humorously, we didn’t toss the albums after “backing up” the pictures. Nope, they’re back in their tote to be forgotten about until the next time we move the tote. More “stuff” that I hang on to as if it will slow my mortality. I don’t get it.
Why not just scan them?
I have so many old pictures and I sure would love to do what you have shown, but too much for my old-er brain to handle.
Thanks and I’m sure others will be able to use your suggestions.