Copy Old Pictures ...

Without A Scanner

Sometimes we'd like to copy old pictures, make them better and maybe reprint them, or share them over the internet.

The question is how do you do that?

Well, you could take it to a camera store and have them do it for you. Although, unless it's a real camera store with real professional equipment and expertise, you may not - probably will not! - get as good a copy as you had hoped.

But you CAN copy old pictures yourself if you have - and are reasonably competent with - either a digital camera or a scanner.

Using the scanner is probably the better way - it's designed just for this kind of thing. In fact, I have an entire tutorial on scanning. if you'd like more information about this. Here: Scanning

But let's say you don't have access to a scanner, and that you have a point & shoot digital camera that has a Macro feature.

Here's how to copy old pictures using your camera:

1. Do this is a well-lighted area, say, your dining room or kitchen - where there's good overhead light - either incandescent or fluorescent. Avoid light from a window. It's too harsh. If you're going to copy old pictures, remember ... be gentle. They've been around a long time!

2. Place the picture you want to copy on the table, tilted back at a slightly greater than 90 degree angle - against a book or something.

The idea behind these first two steps is to have adequate light falling EVENLY on the surface of the picture with no glare or "hot spots."

3. If you have a tripod - USE IT! If not, put yourself in a position where you can hold the camera very steady by propping your elbows on the table top. Or, better yet, stack up books to create a sturdy base.

4. Set the camera to Macro Mode, a relatively low ISO setting, and Auto White Balance. (Since most cameras can't use the entire zoom range when they're set in Macro, position the camera close enough to use the range that does work. In other words, get very close with the zoom range at or near it's widest setting.)

5. Hold the camera so that the lens is pointing at the CENTER of the image and at a 90 degree angle to it - in order to avoid distortion.

6. Press the trigger button half way down after you're in position, and give the camera time to focus properly. If it fails to focus, you're either too close or too far away for the auto focus feature to work. Move the camera a little closer or farther away until it does focus. Then press all the way down to take the picture.

NOTE: If you can't frame the picture exactly, that's okay. You can "crop" it later using Photoshop or probably the software that came with your camera. I have info about this on other pages of this site.

7. Look at the results on the LCD screen, and be especially careful about reflections, distortion, or shadows falling on the image. If any of these problems occur, change the angle, turn lights off or on, or whatever. If there's a shadow on the image ... well, it's probably the shadow of either the camera ... or your head.

8. Adjust as needed and try again.

One problem you might discover is that your copy appears "grainy," especially in dark areas. If this happens, it's probably because the ISO setting is too low for the amount of available light you have to work with. If it's, say, 80 or 100 ISO, change it to 200, or, preferably, 400. This causes the camera's sensor to be more sensitive to light and will therefore brighten the overall picture and eliminate the graininess (which in digital terms is what we call "noise.")

Once you've got a good copy, take it into your image management software and tweak it as needed.

I have other tutorials on all these things. Just browse around the site. I'm sure you'll find them

Have fun!

Copy Old Pictures Using Your Scanner

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