ACROBAT |6-MINUTE READ
How to digitise photos for safekeeping.
Preserve your family memories forever by digitising old photos.
When was the last time you flipped through the family photo albums? If it’s been a while since you’ve taken a stroll down memory lane, have another look and consider digitising old photos for safekeeping.
Converting old photo prints to digital is easier than you may expect. Using the Adobe Scan app simplifies digitising photos and lets you edit, upload and share them directly from the app.
You can sigh in relief to know your photos are forever and will always be safe, no matter what. Check out this easy guide for how to digitise photos and bring the past into the future.
1. Curate photos for digitising images.
First things first, collect all the photos you want to digitise. As you begin to sort through your photo prints, you’ll start to categorise them naturally.
While shuffling through your photos, ask for help from a friend or another family member to get a second opinion. They can help to remember forgotten cousins, family friends or special occasions, offering insight into key dates and years so you can label your photos properly. Categorising photos can help you efficiently organise them on the computer so you can easily search for them later — by person, special event or year.
2. Use the Adobe Scan app.
Are you unsure how to digitise photos? If you don’t have a printer or physical scanner, you can use your phone and the free Adobe Scan app to digitise photos for safekeeping.
In addition to digitising photos, the free scanner app can scan documents, ID cards, books, photo prints and other physical files. Acrobat web tools can be accessed from anywhere and help you efficiently manage your digital file organisation.
When you’re ready to scan, simply tap the screen and the app will find the borders and take the photo for you. The app provides several editing tools to get the best image possible. You can crop the photo, adjust the lighting, apply a filter or mark-up the scan. If the physical photo is stained, you can use the clean-up tool to digitally remove any unwanted spots.
Once you’re satisfied with the image, you’ll name the picture and save it as a PDF. You can then resave the scan as a JPG. You can save it to your cloud storage or wherever you want to save your digitised photos. With the app’s premium features, you can also export a PDF to Microsoft Office, create passwords and edit the text in scans. You can also share the scan directly from the app and email the link so it’s accessible to anyone from anywhere.
3. Capture the best images.
Here are some handy tips to help you to capture the best images for digitising photos.
Use a good phone camera.
If you plan to use your phone to capture and scan your photos, use the latest technology. Don’t use an old flip phone or old smartphone to take photos. Instead, use the newest phone in the family so you have the best chance of capturing the highest DPI or image quality.
Be careful when handling photos.
Some of these precious family photos may be decades old and very fragile.Handle them with care as you plan to snap a pic.
If a photo is stored behind a plastic protector, remember to remove it from the plastic or risk reflections appearing in the scan. Pro tip: Wear gloves to protect the photos from oils or dirt on your hands or fingers.
You can also lightly clean the photos to remove any smudges or dirt that have built up over time. Don’t use a liquid cleaner, as it could damage the photos. Instead, use a dry microfiber cloth or soft brush. These tools can slowly and gently remove dirt or dust from the print.
Use a plain background.
When you take a picture of the photo print, make sure that you place the photo on a white, plain background. A busy, colourful or textured background could potentially affect the photo capture.
Also, make sure you have plenty of soft, natural lighting around you so no shadows appear in the image. Do some test runs to avoid any glare from strong, artificial light sources.
Take the photo carefully.
The best way to digitise photos is to carefully snap a picture of the print photo. As you prepare to snap a picture, position the camera directly on top of the photo print and as close up as possible. Do not take the photo at an angle or you’ll risk the image being out of focus. Also, try to keep a steady hand to avoid any blurring.
4. Share your digitised photos.
Now, here comes the best part — sharing your digitised photos with friends and family. From the Adobe Scan app, you can share a copy of the photo scan through text, email or Airdrop. You can also share a link to the scan within the app. If you prefer, you can save the photo scans to a cloud storage app and then share a link to the cloud with friends and family.
Once you have curated a digital photo album, you can present your precious family memories in several ways. You can place them into a digital photo frame so distant family members can place them in their homes and see many photos at once. You can also put together a fun digital presentation shared over email.Family members can enjoy scrolling through pictures of grandparents, baby photos and other important memories at their will.
What’s great about digitising photos is the accessibility of revisiting those memories at any time. Once your photos are digitised, it’s much easier for distant friends and family to access those beautiful moments no matter the time or distance.
Frequently Asked Questions.
A common approach for digitising a lot of old photos is to use a scanner or scanner app to save them in one place. A printer or physical scanner can capture a higher image quality, while a scanner app offers an easy way to capture photos directly from your phone, letting you scan and save several photos in one go.
You can also combine multiple images into a single PDF, or convert JPGs to PDF, depending on how you'd like to share your digitised photos. The Adobe Scan app is designed to make this process more convenient when digitising photos or documents.
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