Film rolls have become a rare thing these days. Earlier,photos were taken on film rolls in the camera and then these rolls were developed into photographs. Within this 11-letter word ‘photographs’, reside a lot of memories. Each photograph speaks a thousand words. It’s always fun to turn the pages of old albums or look at the photos, especially in the company of your dear ones. However, as time passes, old photographs may fade or get spoilt due to various reasons.
Today, the old printed photograph has been replaced by digital photographs. Durability is the main advantage of digital photographs.
However, can old photographs be changed to digital photos, even if they fade or get spoilt? Well, the answer is yes. Today, the technology is developed in such a way that, even a spoiled photograph can be restored on a digital platform. A data conversion company can help to restore old faded photos into new digital ones.
This blog speaks about the methods as well as advantages of protecting old photographs using digitalization. However, before entering into such details let’s consider the possible factors responsible for the damage of old photographs.
Factors that Cause Damage to Old Photographs
When photos get spoilt, it is a kin to erasing your memories. That is something you don’t want to happen. So, it is vital to understand the main factors that lead to the damage or fading of photographs:
- Sunlight or UV Light: It is the primary reason for the fading of photographs. This process of photographs being ruined by sunlight is known as photo-degradation. UV rays and sunlight have an adverse effect on chemical compounds in the ink of the printed photographs. The light-absorbing chemical compounds in the ink are known as chromophores. When UV rays fall on the ink, it breaks up the chemical compounds in the ink. This results in the degradation or fading of photographs.
- Air Pollution: There are toxins, micro-particles like dust and chemical particles always floating in the air, which are not visible to the naked eye. However, these factors also may lead to the degradation of photographs. They can alter the chemical compounds in photos and cause stains and fading of images. Apart from these, factors like smoke, cleaning chemicals and so on may also cause old photographs to fade.
- Adhesive Materials: We may place the most beautiful photos of our family and friends on the wall of our guest or family room. We often use adhesive materials like tape to fix them on the wall. However, the acidic nature of these materials may initiate chemical reaction with the photos as they are printed on acidic paper. This results in acidic burn of photos.
- Fungal Attack: As time passes, fungus may attack these photographs. The growth of fungus on the photos may become visible gradually as yellow spots or blotches. However, as time passes, these yellow spots may change to brown spots. This often happens when the photographs are kept in a moistened condition.
Digitalizing the photographs is the perfect solution for these problems.
Digitalizing Photographs
As we mentioned earlier, digitizating photos is the best method for securing photos from damage. Digital devices like the computer could be the safest lockers for photos. They can create a backup of our memories. When you digitalize your old photos, you can save them on your electronic device with high quality. Then you can restore these pictures with digital qualities even ifthe originals get damaged. There are different methods for converting printed photos into digital form.
- Scanning via Mobile PhonesYou can make a digital copy of a printed photo by yourself with a single click. You can use your mobile camera for this process. However, if there is a scratch or some other issues present on the photo, it would also be captured as it is. However, today there are apps where you can scan photos and create digital versions. Apps like Photomyne, Microsoft lens, Genius Scan, Google Photoscan, Adobe Scan, Family Search Memories, Camscanner, Clear Scan, Simple Scan, Turbo Scan and so on can assist you in achieving your goal of creating digital copies for your favorite printed photos. These apps can help increase the quality of the original photos and you also have options for editing for erasing unwanted elements from the photo.
- Scanning Devices Like ScannersPrinted photos can be digitalized using electronic scanners. Today, most printers are incorporated with scanners or you can buy standalone scanners. Digitalizing photos using scanner would increase the quality. It is a better method than scanning image using smartphones. However, scanners aremore expensive than Smartphones.
- Rely on Outsourced ServicesYou can hire data conversion companies for digitalizing photos perfectly. With such professional service providers, you can be assured of excellent quality, perfection and accuracy. They even eliminate the unwanted elements like fungus and even balance colors if the photograph had faded with time.
These are the three main methods for digitalizing old photographs. There are certain advantages that digitizing brings such as the following.
Advantages of Digitalizing Photos
- Can preserve even decades’ old photos
- Enlargement is possible for small photos
- Correcting all defects including scratches, fading, folding and so on
- When stored in an electronic device, photoscan be safely kept for a prolonged period of time without any damage
- Genealogical advantage
Many memories are entangled in the photos. Each photo is a window to the past. So, you need to secure them without any damage. The best method for storing photographs safely is in their digital format. Today, document scanning solutions can help you restore your memories.
