FotoBridge | Digitizing Photos Blog

As daunting a task as digitizing photos may be, it’s only the beginning of your digital odyssey. Prior to digitization, it’s ideal to gather pictures into logical groups, like months or years, depending on your preference. When scanned, put the images in folders or create a naming scheme to organize into those logical groups. This will be make the organization process marginally easier than just looking at a long list of file names or thumbnail images.

Preservation of colors and of image details is one of the objectives of photo scanning. Not only do we want to preserve images as they are now, but also as they originally were captured. Photo prints, slides and negatives all experience some degree of color shifting over time. This is especially apparent in cases where in amateur film stocks of the 1960s and 1970s or when cheap photofinishing was used. It was not uncommon for mass-market photofinishers to skimp on quality control to achieve ultra-cheap mail-order or drugstore prices. Photo prints looked okay when they first arrived in the photofinishing envelope, but faded over the years.

Whether your cleaning has been delayed or you’re preparing for a celebration, like a graduation or wedding, converting photos to digital images is always a good idea. Not only do you create a back-up of the original photo for safe keeping but you can improve the quality.

Color and black and white prints can be found in many different places - wallets, walls, and desktops. Even though most of us are found carrying a cellphone, many people still have photos in their wallets before they convert photos to digital.

Sharing photography is one of the primary and dominant means of communication on social media networks with millions of images posted daily across the globe. The interfaces for uploading imagery with both Google+ and Facebook are relatively smooth but with so many avenues for publishing content - from a mobile smart phone, via a batch-uploading app in the computer’s operating system or through an internet browser - it can be difficult to keep your imagery organized. Here are a few simple links that can make your experience easier and more efficient when uploading albums of memories. Whether they be scanned photos, slides, digitized negatives, or born digital images - these steps should help.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who grew up with a “no instructions necessary” kind of Dad. Four hours later when my ready to assemble desk was still in pieces…I knew it was time I intervene with the manual. As much as you can trust your own instincts, sometimes it is not a bad idea to get outside advice.

Many adults of the baby boomer or older generations have boxes of photos that they rarely flip through. I don't know about you but I can't tell you how many I would find if I went through my parent's basement and attic. The photos remain inaccessible and are difficult to sort through and find what they are looking for. Next time you need a gift for your parents, I would consider digitizing the photos so they can view them on a computer - makes life so much easier!