How To: Scan your old photos with a smartphone

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How many times have you wanted to share some pictures from your older days online and were let down by the resources available to convert those photographs to a digital format? More than just a couple of times, I’d say. But 2017 might just be the right time to create a digital backup of those nostalgic days and live in it.

With Smartphone cameras becoming more and more powerful, it’s a no-brainer that such a small module of equipment in your smartphone can be so capable that it renders your print photos into a digital format. So what will it take for you to backup those thousands of photographs tucked away in a shoebox somewhere in your storeroom? Well, how about a lot of patience for a start.

Unlocking your smartphone, firing up the camera and pointing it towards the photograph don’t really ensure a good quality revival. You thought it was that simple? Well, it is for the most part but you need to have a patience handling the whole procedure.

Prerequisites:
1. Photographs. Lots of photographs.
2. A smartphone with a good camera.
3. Photograph scanning apps (More on that below).
4. A place with natural light.
5. Clean your photographs and the camera lens with a microfiber cloth.

Launch a photograph scanning app and place the photograph down on a flat surface. Then, keep your phone parallel to the photograph and tap the shutter button.

The picture will be saved on your phone’s storage from where you can share it on Facebook, Instagram or upload it to cloud such as Google Drive or OneDrive.

Photograph Scanning Apps
1. PhotoScan

From the house of Google, comes another app that the company proudly calls “... scanner from the future.” Open the app and arrange it parallel to the photograph. After that, tap the shutter button. The app will seemingly click a photo but then you will see four white dots appearing on the picture and the app will ask you to move the circle over each dot. After you’ve done it for all the four dots, the app creates a scan of the photograph.

Additionally, the app detects the edge of the photograph and so you can crop it off or there’s another option of rotating the image.

Furthermore, the image gets saved on your phone’s storage and on Google Photos as well.

iOS | Android

2. Photomyne

With Photomyne you can scan a lot of photographs at once by placing them on a flat surface and the app will curate each photograph separately and put it up as an album. The app crops and enhances the image automatically. What’s more is that you can add a date, location and name to the photograph along with writing a few words that describe the photo. You can also share the photo straight from the app.

The trial version of the Photomyne iOS app allows only 3 album creation. iPhone users will have to shell out Rs. 500 for the full version of the app. Android users however, are in a luck as the app for Android is still in a beta stage and is thereby free to download from __play Store.

iOS | Android

3. Pic Scanner

Available only for iOS, Pic Scanner is quite old in the scanning business. The app allows a user to digitize four images in a single go and also crops them automatically. After that, you can use some filters on the image and enhance it. The app also allows you to put a caption with the photograph. The free version of the app will only let you save 12 scans while the full version of the app, Pic Scanner Gold will set you back by Rs. 400.

iOS

4. Shoebox

Shoebox is a popular app for scanning old photographs. The app crops and flattens the scans automatically after which you can date your images and add details like the people in it, location etc. The app will save the scan on your phone’s storage or you can upload it on Ancestry.com (parent site) where you get an unlimited storage.
iOS | Android

So now you have the proper arsenal in your smartphone’s app drawer to preserve those old photographs and share them with your family, friends and colleagues.