9/15/2011

Preserving And Digitizing Old Photos

By Roseann Wilcox


You might be interested in digitizing photos from your old albums but not sure how. Scanning old pictures is a great way to share them with family and friends over the Internet. It is safe and simple and offers to be a backup copy to your originals.

The process helps to preserve old photos though it does not replace them. Old original photographs should still be kept and stored properly for preservation. The best way to preserve old pictures at home is to store them in a cool dry place. Avoid any dampness as this can cause pictures to stick together and it promotes the growth of mold.

Original photographs should be stored in albums with plastic sheets for protection. Avoid PVC plastic as this produces acid that can eat away at the pictures over time. Plastics with covers made of uncoated pure polyethylene, polypropylene, or Mylar D are safer for long term storage.

The safest but most expensive way of preserving a photograph is to mat it with a high quality mat board and frame it. This method is good for pictures you want on display. It also preserves them very well for a long time.

There are companies out there that will gladly digitize your old pictures for a price. Be careful to get the full story from them first. Some use a huge machine that requires you to do some prep work first. Pictures must not exceed a certain size and they should be facing vertically or horizontally respectively ahead of time. Preparation with this method can be time consuming.

Digitizing photos on your own is an option that you can do at your leisure. Use a good quality scanner and remember to save the pictures to a CD. Once you have your pictures digitized and arranged you can upload them to the web and share with your loved ones.




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