How do you take a digital picture of an old photo? Is that even plausible?

Question

I would really like to put some old pictures I have onto my computer, but I do not have a scanner (I'm a college sophomore and money doesn't grow on trees! …shut up…). Anyway, is there a decent way to use my digital camera to take pictures of my pictures? I've tried myself but they turned out terribly. Or is this simply a lost cause until I can wrangle enough cash for a scanner? Really, I'd appreciate any advice you could offer!

Answer 1

you can also check libraries for scanning images and save on disk to use, search around for used scanners at second hand stores, or see if friends can help with scanning, for quality, you want to scanner image at 300/ 600 dpi resolution as well,

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Answer 2

try going to walmart or other stores like it. they usually have a kiosk that will scan pictures and even put them on a disk. and the price is reasonable. then you can down load copies to your computer

Answer 3

Buy a close-up filter for your camera (Glasses for your camera).

Have even lighting on your old photograph. If you use two light sources, place a pencil flat on your photograph. The shadows cast by the pencil must be identical in shade and size.

If your image is slightly askew, you can correct this in Photoshop (Select-> free transform -> skew)

Answer 4

I did this today, weird coincidence. I dont have a scanner, so i put my camera on a tripod facing down, turned off the flash and made sure there were no reflections, then i just cropped it, you have to make sure the photo is perpendicular to the lens tho, mine looks fine,  

Answer 5

Funny you should ask.  I just happen to have a page on my site dedicated to that very thing  - with instructions!

http://www.jimsdigitaldiary.com/copy_old...

Contact me at the site of you need further assistance.

Actually, here's the good news:  sometimes it's better to copy with your digital camera rather than to scan an old photo.

(And may I say "thank you" ... for writing in complete sentences and spelling every word correctly.)

Answer 6

I think the only possible way is to use a scanner. If you don't own one, ask a friend if you can use it.

1) Scan the pictures and upload it to their computer

2) Email the pictures to yourself

Good luck!