Relatively inexpensive home scanners are capable of
converting family photographs to quality digital images.
Many people (including myself), have switched from film to digital cameras.
Even those who continue to use film, often have the developer deliver the photos
in a digital format. Therefore, using these images in digital scrapbooking is a
straightforward process. Yet, what happens to the family photographs taken prior
to the digital revolution? The answer of course, is scanning. Fortunately,
scanners are relatively inexpensive these days. You can easily buy one for
around $100 or less.
Some people opt to have
their photos scanned professionally. If you have a large number of photographs
to scan, that can be costly and inconvenient. If you are savvy enough to use any
scrapbook program, figuring out a scanner is not that difficult.
Scanning Vintage Photos to Share
About 17 years ago, I
started putting together a family tree album, which included photographs of our
ancestors. At the time, I had to take photographs belonging to my mother
to the camera store, and pay to have the photos reproduced. It was a very
costly endeavor, and we did not have the luxury to reproduce all the photos. It
was simply too expensive. We also had to decided, before having them
reproduced, what size we wanted. We were getting back a finished print,
not a digital file.
Scanning allows us to
share treasured heirloom photos with all of our family. The great thing
about having those old photos in digital format, we can use the same image a
dozen different ways, and still retain a pristine original. Use those digital
images in craft projects, to frame in various sizes, share with family members
or place into scrapbooks.
When my father’s
grandparents passed away, all of the family albums went to his cousin. It
broke my heart not to have access to those photos. Recently, my father’s
cousin sent me a disc, with all those old family photos in JPEF format. With
scanning, we can share and liberally use the images of our ancestors. Family
pictures need not be lost to certain branches of the family, who were not the
lucky recipients of the family album.
(More)