How to Scan Old Family Photos for Keepsakes

The photograph that would make the best keepsake is frequently not on anyone's phone. It is a print in a box in a cupboard, and it is the only copy.

Getting it into usable digital form is easier than most people assume, and worth doing carefully because the original is irreplaceable.

Clean before you copy

Dust and fingerprints scan as clearly as the image does, and removing them afterwards is far harder than avoiding them.

Use a dry microfibre cloth and a very light touch. Never use liquid of any kind on a printed photograph; it lifts emulsion and the damage is permanent. If a print is stuck to glass in an old frame, stop and get advice rather than pulling.

A scanner is better, but a phone is fine

If you have a flatbed scanner, scan at 600 dpi. That is more than enough for any keepsake and gives room to crop in.

If you do not, a phone works genuinely well with three rules:

• Even indirect daylight. Near a window, out of direct sun. No flash, ever, because it reflects off the print surface
• Camera parallel to the photo. Directly overhead, not at an angle, or the image will be subtly trapezoid
• Fill the frame. Get close enough that the photograph occupies most of the shot rather than cropping heavily afterwards

Glossy prints reflect. Tilting the print slightly, rather than the camera, usually removes the glare.

Damaged and faded originals

Faded, yellowed and slightly torn photographs often produce better keepsakes than people expect, particularly in black and white, which removes colour degradation entirely.

Do not over correct. Heavy restoration frequently makes an old photo look artificial, and the softness of an old print is part of why it moves people. Straighten, crop, adjust brightness gently, and stop.

These images work especially well for memorial pieces. See memorial gifts.

Save the original file

Whatever you produce, keep the untouched version separately before editing anything. Digitising a photograph is often the only backup that will ever exist of it, and edits made in a hurry cannot be undone once the original file is overwritten.

Frequently asked questions

What resolution do I need for a keepsake?

For an ornament or a mug, almost any decent scan or careful phone photo suffices. For a large print or a blanket, scan at 600 dpi or photograph as close as you can while staying in focus. See personalized blankets.

Can I use a photo scanning app?

Yes, and the good ones handle glare and perspective correction automatically. They are noticeably better than a plain camera photo and noticeably worse than a flatbed scanner.

What if the only photo is in a frame I cannot open?

Photograph it through the glass at a slight angle to avoid reflections, in indirect light with no flash. It is imperfect, and it is far better than forcing a frame that may be holding the print together.

Should I convert old photos to black and white?

Often, yes. Colour prints from the seventies and eighties shift towards orange as they age. Converting removes that cast entirely and usually looks intentional rather than degraded.

How do I choose between several old photos?

Pick the one where faces are largest and clearest, not the one with the best composition. On a small keepsake, recognisability beats everything else. Browse photo ornaments.

Clean, flat, even light

Those three things are most of it. Browse personalized Christmas gifts.