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The Best Way to Copy an Old Photograph

Over time pictures will begin to fade and if not stored properly they can start to fall apart. Before the advent of digital technology, when this started to happen to old pictures you would be forced to accept its condition or get a new copy printed if you still had the negative. Now you can convert that old picture into a digital file and make adjustments to the old photograph using a photo editing program.

Things You'll Need

Flatbed scanner
Soft cloth
Emulsion cleaner

Instructions

- 1
  Turn on your desktop or laptop computer and the flatbed scanner you will use to convert the picture into a digital file.
- 2
  Open the software for the flatbed scanner, select "Photo" as your scanning original and create a folder where the old photo will be scanned to. When you select the input as "Photo," the scanner will create a more detailed scan than it would scanning a document.
- 3
  Carefully clean the old photo using a soft cloth to remove any dust or debris. If the picture has a considerable amount of dirt or grime, use an emulsion cleaner and a soft cloth to clean it.
- 4
  Lift the lid of your flatbed scanner and place the old photo face down. Press the "Start" button on the scanner or click the "Scan" button in the scanner's software.
- 5
  Save the scanned photo to the folder you created in step two and save the picture as "TIFF" file. While TIFF files are larger than JPEG files they retain the most information and will give you more latitude if you need to edit the picture after it is scanned.
- 6
  Open the scanned old photo and print as many copies of the photo you need.

Photography