Question old photos

[Ruger#3]

Folks, suggestions if you would. Like many folks I have many old black and white and some color paper photos. With today’s photoshop technology is it possible to scan and convert these to digital. I’ve seen amazing work done with photoshop but not sure this feasible. Please share share your recommendations or experience.

 

[GAJoe]

Many printers now can scan your photo's. I scanned a ton from the old days when the kids were young. You don't have to have any expensive SW just whatb comes with the printer most of the time.

 

[Ruger#3]

The only photos I have of grandparents and sister that passed are paper. I would like to have them and some military pics digitized

 

[wvdawg]

As Joe indicated, many printers today come with built-in scanning capability. This would make it easy to save prints to electronic media.

 

[Ruger#3]

Thanks good info, I was hoping to blow them a little larger, possibly framing a few of them. I expect there’s a limit to enlarging them.

 

[AceOfTheBase]

Most recent photo editors can help you mend scratched and blotched old photos to a degree. Beyond the mass corrections features come time consuming mending of each flaw one-at-a-time. Beyond that, it becomes art and the image no longer contains original information. I like PaintShop Pro, but others are just as good for this processing. Always keep a copy of the original separate from editing - insurance...

 

[Cmp1]

Folks, suggestions if you would. Like many folks I have many old black and white and some color paper photos. With today’s photoshop technology is it possible to scan and convert these to digital. I’ve seen amazing work done with photoshop but not sure this feasible. Please share share your recommendations or experience.

You wouldn't happen to have the negatives would you,,,,

 

[Ruger#3]

You wouldn't happen to have the negatives would you,,,,

No, I dont.

 

[wvdawg]

You might also try taking a digital image of the original photo with a camera if you can control the lighting on the prints.

 

[AceOfTheBase]

Yah, camera or smart-phone can take the image, but a hi-res scanner is better for both lighting(color) and lack of warping.

 

[natureman]

I did a 5,500 historic image scan project about 15 years ago using a $900 scanner that could do prints, negatives and slides. It was a lengthy task as to get the best image quality required a very slow scan for each item. Things are much improved now. Here is a scanner under $100 that gets pretty good reviews https://www.amazon.com/Epson-Perfec...sr=1-7&keywords=photo+scanner#customerReviews

 

[Ruger#3]

I did a 5,500 historic image scan project about 15 years ago using a $900 scanner that could do prints, negatives and slides. It was a lengthy task as to get the best image quality required a very slow scan for each item. Things are much improved now. Here is a scanner under $100 that gets pretty good reviews https://www.amazon.com/Epson-Perfec...sr=1-7&keywords=photo+scanner#customerReviews

Thanks for the recommendations folks. I think I’ll scan them into digital then seek out some help with image editing for the flaws.

 

[natureman]

Image editing usually bundled with the photo scanner. Retouching old photos is my wife's expertise. I have seen her spend an hour on one photo and the results are outstanding.

 

[XIronheadX]

Make sure and scan them at 600 dpi. I repaired some old photos with tears and discoloration. Cloning tools help a lot. I'm sure there is great software out there to fix them with. But, there's a learning curve.

 

[BriarPatch99]

This is an old image that I did some quick Photoshop work on ... It was in pretty bad shape ... I have quite a bit of Photoshop knowledge but no where near an expert.... I have a really good Epson flat her scanner that I have scanned thousand of images and repaired some of them .... it takes time to do the work and you save a lot of old photos ...but a fellow has to be careful and not cause issues that make the photos non-realistic ....



This is a mock image I made some 90 years later....