Photography Blog

One of the basics of scrapbooking is cropping photos. Some tend to avoid cropping, not sure of how to go about it. Others may go to the other extreme, cropping every photo. 

Looking back at my first albums, I see that all the photos were cropped, often in many different shapes. I would usually cut almost all of the background out of most of the photos. Through the years, as I have learned more about scrapbooking, and gained experience, the way that I crop photos has changed. 

I look back at those early albums and wish I hadn’t cropped out so much of some of the photos. Sometimes the backgrounds in our photos tell part of the story. I have learned that sometimes, less is more.

There are some good reasons to crop the photos for our scrapbooks. We can crop our photos to fit more on a page, and also to create visual variety that is pleasing to the eye. Let’s take a look at some of the ways we can crop photos for beautiful scrapbook pages.

Crop for Balance and Focus – We can crop photos for balance. I know I don’t always take the time to compose every shot. Kids often don’t hold still very long, making it difficult to get that perfect shot. Cropping photos can shift the focus where we want it.  Crop to Enlarge – With digital photos, this is very simple. Sometimes the subject of the photo is too small, and gets lost in the picture. If we cropped around the subject the photo would be too small. We can crop to enlarge the subject by using photo editing software or at the photo lab before the photo is printed. If you only have a printed photo, try scanning the photo and then crop before reprinting. Crop Out Distractions – Sometimes we want to keep some of the background, but distracting backgrounds can be cropped out. Some backgrounds are very busy, pulling our eye away from the subject. Maybe we don’t want the dirty dishes in the background. When photos are taken in public places we can crop other people out of the photos. Crop for Creativity – Photos can be cropped into creative shapes. This should be used very sparingly. Squares and rectangles are classic shapes that will always look pleasing. If it suits the layout, sprinkle a fun shape in here or there to add variety to a page. As a general rule one creative shape on a page is enough.

 Now we have looked at some of the ways we can crop our photos. Try cropping very little at first, as you arrange your page layout you can always go back and crop more. There are also some some things we don’t want to do when cropping photos.

 Instant Photos – Never crop instant photos (polaroid). The chemicals inside that were used to develop them can bleed out and ruin your scrapbook page. The layers can also come apart. If you must, scan them, print them on regular photo paper and crop them instead. If you don’t like the white border, try hiding it behind a photo frame.  Historical / Place References – Remember not to crop out all historical or place references. The places that the photos were taken tell part of the story.  Shapes – Limit cropping photos into shapes. This will tend to overwhelm the page. Sprinkling an occasional circle or oval to accent a page. Use irregular shapes sparingly.  One of a Kind Photos – Never crop a one of a kind photo. Scan these photos and crop those if you need to crop to fit in your page layout.  Heritage Photos – Avoid cropping photos taken before 1950. The paper these photos were printed on is a fiber-based paper. Cropping will cause the edges to fray and the photos to deteriorate.

 Keep these tips for cropping photos in mind. Soon you will be cropping with ease, and creating stunning scrapbooks.

Paint is a great little pre-installed photo editing software. Although, it does not have the sophistication or the in depth features of Photoshop, it still can do a lot of impressive editing. Paint tends to be underused either because people do not have the knowledge or experience of how to use it or they are not aware that they have it installed on their computer.

If you have the Paint editing software on your computer and you would like to learn how edit a photo or picture, then follow these steps:

Step One
Press the Windows icon key on your keyboard. This can be located on the left side of the space bar. When the Start menu appears select All Programs, then Accessories and then Paint.

Step Two
When the Paint software window opens, go to File and then Open. This will give you the option to locate and find the photo you want to edit. When you have found it select the file and open it. The image will appear in the editing window of Paint.

Step Three
At this point you can begin to edit your selected photo. Paint has a number of ways in which you can edit as follows:

Colour Editing: In the bottom left hand corner you will see a palette where you can choose varies colours. These colors can be applied to your photo in a number of ways. For example, you can apply the colours using a brush or an airbrush. These tools can be found on the upper left side bar and you can easily identify them as they use a symbol of what they actually do. There is also a Color Dropper and Fill With Color Tool to change your photo with.

Add Text: If you want to add text to your photo for example, the date and the location the photo was taken then you can do this with the Paint editing tool. All you have to do is click on the Text Tool and create a text box on the selected area of the photo. In the box you can type in your desired text.

Image Modifier: With this tool you can change the shape, style colors, you can make it longer by stretching the image or flip it upside down or sideways. You can use this editing command by selecting Image from the top task bar.

Step Four
When you have finished editing your photo you can save it to a file. You can either print it out or email it to a friend.

How to change an old family photo to a newly looking one or how to convert an ordinary looking picture into stunning looking background wallpaper? Image editing is very special to give a fabulous touch to your existing image and make it look professional or artistic.

Editing of graphics is done for photo retouching, photo restoration, photo enhancement, giving special effects, changing color shades and modes. You can resize photos by modifying photo height, width. Graphic designers can make an overweight woman look like a slim woman. Any shape can be distorted, flipped, rotated by graphics editing.

Light and shadow can play a part in graphic design. Photo of a landscape on daytime can be changed to photo at night. A photo of summer can be made to look like a photo in snowfall. A clear image can be changed to an image in fog by use of photo retouching. A human face can look like an animie type character.

Graphics editing gives you benefit of generating output in various file formats.  If the original file format is in JPG format, you can generate output in GIF, BMP, TIFF with image quality diminished or enhanced. You can generate output in software specific file format. Popular graphics editing software let you generate output in software’s own default format. If you are using Adobe Photoshop, you can get output in default PSD format. Corel Draw generates output in CDR format.

In digital cameras all the photos may not be properly taken. Ambience of photo shoot may damage quality of photos. Shades of light, fog or darkness often affect clarity of pictures. Photo figures do not look clear if taken from a distance without zooming. Photo retouching can edit such pictures to look like a perfectly taken picture. All the shaded figures can be adjusted by retouching tools. All the blurred portions of the image can be sharpened for prominence.

Print media requires the use of illustrations on pages of newspaper or magazine. Here illustrators make collages of photos by image manipulation. Slimming point ads where showing weight loss of men and women can be done by right photo editing software. Online websites use graphics editing to make graphics more glamorous looking.

If you are thinking editing an image is quite easy then you are wrong. It may take hours of time to edit a single image. To edit an image a designer has to look at the minute details of work. Concentration, patience and professionalism are very much necessary in photo editing.

If you are planning to retouch any of your photos or planning to make an online photo album for your website take help from an expert. An experienced graphic editor has long experience of working in Adobe Photoshop. He can quickly decide which portion should be retouched and what modification should be done to make the image look more dazzling.

If you want your photos to get noticed and applauded, then image manipulation should be the best option you should adopt.

Engagement Photos Flush Out Bad Photographers

If you are getting married and plan to have a professional photographer record your special day, how will you know you have chosen a good photographer? You can check references. Is that all that you need to do? No, it is not enough.

There are many ways to test the suitability of a photographer who wants to be your wedding photographer. Personality can be a major stumbling block. An uninsured photographer is a risky choice. A small book could be written on how to choose a pro photographer.

Having been a professional photographer for about 30 years and being the owner of The Master of Moments ~ Distinctive photography, in Maine, I do have a little experience that I can share with you. Do your best to narrow you list of potential photographers. When you feel that you have made a decision based on your best efforts, it is time for a test shoot.

A lot of untrained, inexperienced people have bought digital cameras and consider themselves professional photographers. Some pros belong to all the right organizations and have all the right equipment but lack the eye needed for photographing weddings. Wedding photography is a specialty that not every pro photographer is cut out to perform in.

You should get some photos taken before your big day. What better evidence can you ask for that your pro is a good match for your wedding needs? Engagement photos are an excellent idea for this verification process.

No wedding album is complete without both formal and informal engagement photos. Ask your photographer to do a private photo session with you and your loved one for engagement photos. Have the photographer work under similar conditions to those that will exist at your wedding and reception.

If you ceremony will be held outdoors, get your engagement photos done with natural sunlight. Some studio photographers are so used to working under controlled conditions that they have trouble dealing with natural lighting, shadows, harsh sunlight, and so forth.

If you ceremony setting will require on-camera electronic flash make sure you have the photographer work with that equipment while taking your engagement photos. Improper use on an on-board flash can result in “Red Eye”. Photos can easily be overexposed or underexposed when a small, portable flash unit is used. When there is no opportunity to use a flash meter for proper exposure readings it all comes down to the experience a photographer has with the equipment being used.

I know everyone seems to say “Don’t worry about it I can fix it in my computer.” A lot can be done with photo manipulation, but a photographer should be starting with the best photos possible from the beginning. When enlargements are made for printing and displaying, the quality, or lack of it, will come through.

Once you have completed your photo session you will have first-hand experience with your photographer. Look carefully at the proofs your photographer will provide. If you like them, select a few that you will have the photographer enlarge and print for you.

Insist on your images being printed on archival-quality paper. A few photographers print their own enlargements. Most of them use independent companies to make the prints. The equipment cost to own top-quality photo-printing equipment is prohibitive to most photographers.

By commissioning your photographer for engagement photos, you are getting a good look at what you are likely to get on your wedding day. Make sure that the same photographer who does your engagement work will be covering your wedding. The last thing you want to see on your special day is a total stranger with a camera pointed at you.

As The Master of Moments I encourage all of my customers to work with me for a one-hour session at no charge to make sure that we are a good fit for each other. I don’t know of any other photographers who offer this free time for potential customers, but I feel it is a critical part of getting to know each other so that my customers and I can work well together during photo sessions.

It is common for there to be a lot more to wedding photography than just showing up at a church and snapping some pictures. There are engagement photos, rehearsal photos, pre-wedding candids, the ceremony, the reception, and sometimes additional sessions.

There are plenty of opportunities to problems to arise. Wedding photography is not like having a passport photo taken. A photographer normally gets only one chance to get it right. If the photographer fails, you won’t have your visual memories to share over the many happy years of your marriage.

The cost of a photo session is a wise investment when grading photographers for their ability to save your magic moments in time.

Many people think that expensive camera equipment is required in order for photography to be profitable. Actually, you can earn an income from photography with almost any camera if it can provide an adequate resolution. One of the easiest ways to do so is to sell photos online.

Perhaps you will be surprised to to find out that many of these stock photo websites accept photos from a camera which boasts a resolution of 6 megapixels or higher. Yes, not everyone can join and begin making money snapping pictures of the family pet. But with some research and practice, you could eventually begin to sell your images on some stock photo sites.

So what does it take to develop into a proficient photographer to make money with photography? You must possess commitment, good equipment, and a good eye. You can actually begin learning with your basic digital camera. That is, of course, assuming you possess a semi decent camera. Your phone camera won’t quite make the grade. But the point is that you don’t need a 0 piece of equipment to be able to make money from your pictures.

As soon as you have developed your photographic expertise, it is critical to understand some of the requirements needed to successfully sell photos online. By knowing some of the essentials with regard to stock photography work, you will probably be ahead of the game when you are finally prepared to start taking images expressly for selling.

Below are some things to consider:

Understand Composition – You can uncover plenty of online courses on composing photos to bring out the best results. By studying one composition method daily, you are going to be shooting excellent photos within a short time.

Choose a Theme – Choose an area you are familiar with at first while you are developing your expertise. There is indoor, outdoor, local sites, people and wildlife photos along with many more categories.

Decide on a Stock Photo Site – Every stock photography website can vary, so become aquainted with these sites and make a note of each site’s terms. Because you are a beginner you should try to find a less rigid website as far as rules.

As you start submitting images to stock photo websites for selling keep an eye on other site users, especially the veterans. Stuff like appropriate tagging and titles are usually important when you sell online photographs as you are competing against a large group of people.

When it comes to taking great action photos, one of the most important digital photography basics is understanding shutter lag.

Also called “processor lag” this is the time that it takes between the time you press the shutter release and the time the camera actually takes the shot. Press too soon, and you end up with something completely different than what you expected.

Despite all of their advantages, compact digital cameras are slower than traditional film cameras. This article provides some tips for dealing with this lag, as well as tips for how to take more exciting and memorable action pictures.

1) Be Ready – Always try to anticipate the movement before it happens. Even professional sports photographers with fast cameras have to still anticipate actions so they can be in the right spot at the right time.

By having a better understanding of what you’re photographing, you’ll be better able to anticipate the actions and get better shots. So, if you plan to take pictures of your child’s soccer match, learn the rules of the game so you’ll know what to expect. If your child is dancing in the Nutcracker, watch a couple of rehearsals before you start taking pictures.

2) Before you get a new compact digital camera investigate what you really want. Unfortunately, there isn’t just one camera spec that will tell you how fast the camera will capture the picture from the time you press the button. Others things like the quality of the sensor and the ISO setting (if in dim light) can also slow down the processing time. So check out what others are saying at photography forums and honest review sites, and read all the specs available.

3)    Spring for a DSLR (Digital Single-Lens-Reflex). They’re more expensive than compacts, but they’re FAST. These cameras do not have shutter-lag issues, and if you’re shooting action indoors, you can ramp up the ISO without your photos being marred by the digital noise that you’ll get when doing the same with a compact.

Digital Photography Basics to Use with any Type of Camera

Whether you have a compact, DSLR, point-and-shoot film camera or camera phone, try these professional tricks.

Zoom in on Faces – Don’t always focus on the action. Capture those expressions of determination, triumph and even defeat (especially if it’s an opponent!).

Tell a Story – Look for shots that tell a story of the event. For instance, take a picture of a team huddle or a group of runners stretching before the big race.

Freeze! – To freeze the action, set your camera to sports mode or set your Shutter Speed Priority to a high setting. For an example of the difference in settings: freezing action in a soccer game requires a shutter speed in the range of 1/250 to 1/500, while freezing the tiny movements of a pet that appears to be sitting still, requires 1/125.

Blur the Background – Take a cue from the sports photographers, and blur the background by decreasing the camera’s depth of field. If using a camera that has Aperture Priority, you can do this by simply decreasing the f-stop number. The lower the F Stop number, the more blurry your background.

Pan – This is a good alternative for digital compact users where dim light underexposes photos taken with sports mode/fast shutter speed. Panning works with automatic focus but it only works well when the subject is moving in a fairly straight line. Here is how to pan the camera:

Set your Camera to Autofocus. With your feet firmly planted on the ground, rotate your upper body and follow the subject with your camera. Just before the anticipated action that you want to capture occurs, start pressing the shutter release button and continue following the subject until you’ve pressed the button all the way down and the camera gets the shot.

Is the autofocus on your camera too slow? Focus on an area of contrast, such as the number on a uniform. Autofocus works faster with contrast.

Play around with panning and see what kinds of different effects you can get. If you want to put more emphasis on the movement, you may want to consider blurring the movement to make it look like it’s moving faster.

Whether you are shooting a sporting event or taking photos of your dog playing frisbee, action photos are really a lot of fun once you get the hang of it. And once you understand the digital photography basics like shutter lag, you’ll take better pictures and have even more fun.

When it comes to taking great action photos, one of the most important digital photography basics is understanding shutter lag.

Also called “processor lag” this is the time that it takes between the time you press the shutter release and the time the camera actually takes the shot. Press the shutter too early and you’ll end up with a picture that’s completely different than what you were expecting.

Despite all of their advantages, compact digital cameras are slower than traditional film cameras. This article provides some tips for dealing with this lag, as well as tips for how to take more exciting and memorable action pictures.

1) Be Ready to Shoot While you can’t know if your child is going to make that soccer goal, try to anticipate when things are most apt to happen. Even professional sports photographers with speed-of-lightning cameras try to anticipate the action, just so they can be in the right spot and point the camera in the right direction.

By having a better understanding of what you’re photographing, you’ll be better able to anticipate the actions and get better shots. So, if you plan to take pictures of your child’s soccer match, learn the rules of the game so you’ll know what to expect. If your child’s performing in the Nutcracker, watch a rehearsal or two.

2) Shop Around before purchasing a new compact digital. Unfortunately, there isn’t just one camera spec that will tell you how fast the camera will capture the picture from the time you press the button. Others things like the quality of the sensor and the ISO setting (if in dim light) can also slow down the processing time. So investigate what other people are saying in photography forums and read all of the manufacturer’s specs online.

3) Spring for a DSLR (Digital Single-Lens-Reflex). They’re more expensive than compacts, but they’re FAST. DSLRs don’t have shutter lag problems, so if you’re taking photos outside, you can increase the ISO without your photos having digital noise like you would with a compact camera.

Digital Photography Basics to Use with any Type of Camera

Whether you have a compact, DSLR, point-and-shoot film camera or camera phone, try these professional tricks.

Zoom in on Faces Don’t always focus on the action. Capture those expressions of determination, triumph and even defeat (especially if it’s an opponent!).

Tell a Story Look for shots that tell a story of the event. For example, begin with a shot of the team’s huddle or your fellow paddlers launching their rafts.

Freeze! To freeze the action, set your camera to sports mode or set your Shutter Speed Priority to a high setting. As an example of different settings, freezing action in a soccer tournament requires a shutter speed between 1/250 to 1/500 while taking photos of your pet sitting still requires 1/125.

Blur the Background Take a cue from the sports photographers, and blur the background by decreasing the camera’s depth of field. If you’re using a camera with Aperture Priority, you can do this simply by decreasing the F Stop number. The lower the F Stop number, the more blurry your background.

Pan – This is a good alternative for digital compact users where dim light underexposes photos taken with sports mode/fast shutter speed. Panning works with automatic focus, but it only works when the action is moving in a fairly straight line. Here is how to pan the camera:

Set your Camera to Auto focus. With feet planted firmly on the ground, move the upper half of your body while following the subject with your camera. Just before you think the action will occur, start pressing the shutter release button half way down and continue following the subject until you’ve pressed the button completely down to get the shot.

Is the auto focus on your camera too slow? Focus on an area of contrast, such as the number on a uniform. Auto focus works faster with contrast.

Play around with panning and see what kinds of different effects you can get. You might want to show some blur in the action to emphasize the speed of movement, such as with a race car.

Whether you are shooting a sporting event or taking photos of your dog playing frisbee, action photos are really a lot of fun once you get the hang of it. And once you understand the digital photography basics like shutter lag, you’ll take better pictures and have even more fun.

Shall we take it for granted that you are a digital photo enthusiast? Our presumption is not without statistical backing – 87% of over a billion mobile phones will have cameras in 2010, according to Info Trends. Before we leave statistics to the expert there are 228 billion digital photos in mobile phone memories.

Do you believe that your mobile phone is reliable, safe and easy to manage for your precious memories. We do not intend getting clichéd about “precious memories”, there is a context. Between your digital camera and your mobile camera which is quickly accessible? Between your digital camera and your mobile camera, which is more likely to capture important moments? Yes, you would take out your digital camera when you have a big event or someone ready with a pose.

How about, when you dear one set about on a twirl, when your grand parent flashed a ‘new’ smile, when your toddler pulled off a new trick, someone at work uncorked the bubbly, or when you got lost on the butterfly stopping at your balcony garden. These are precious moments, aren’t they?

Sad, if you had to delete some of these to make space for something else, or lost all of them with your phone or, your phone just refused to talk to its memory one fine day. Yes, we know, there is the data cable, and, most phones can talk to computers via blue tooth and so on. Honestly, how many of your important moments have moved from your phone to the relative safety of your hard drive?

Remember the next time, when you are waiting for a meeting, on a train, stuck at traffic or an airport, it is time to move photos from your mobile phone to secure storage. All you need is your phone to be able to connect to the internet and that’s it – your mobile photos are now ready to be transferred to online albums. Looking for fine print? You will not find any – because, this is free, and you get unlimited space to store your mobile phone photos. You do not have to install any software on your mobile phone.

Here are the steps:

Go to www.PhotoPrintsandGifts.mobi Join by giving your email ID, and setting up a password Upload Share to email ID, or another mobile phone

You can go to www.PhotoPrintsandGifts.com to join and sign in from your mobile phone, to make it easier. What you have uploaded is available in the same email sign in at www.PhotoPrintsandGifts.com.

Not done yet – you can share photos from your mobile phone by sending an email and, or SMS to a friend. Unlimited and FREE.

The next time you are rummaging through your phone – there is something good to do, upload your digital shots from your mobile phone.

Photo Prints and Gifts offers unique mobile photo uploaders. Custom designed to work with the limited resources of mobile phones, PPG uploaders are fast and easy to use. At Photo Prints and Gifts, photo uploading and sharing is made easy. You now need to resort to clumsy email attachments to share photos. Mobile photo uploaders at PPG work in GPRS and WAP and are tested per Opera mobile browser standards. PPG uploaders are designed to be secure for use on a mobile phone and does not need installation of any software on the phone.

PPG is loaded with over 1000 creative digital assets: borders, themes, and layouts that are made for India, paying attention to multi cultural and diversified tastes that we have as a billion+ nation. These are now available for free online use.

About PPG

What are you doing with your photos today? This is the quest that the founding team of photo and imaging experienced professionals went to find out from the photo products (prints and gifts) markets in Asia -Pac. The answers were numerous, some relatively clear, a lot “not so sure.” The consensus was that the photo products consumer (B2C, B2B2C or B2B) in most parts of Asia Pacific does not enjoy quality photo solutions with globally prevalent cost efficiencies.Providers of high quality, creative, easy to use and affordable photo storage, preservation and social expression solutions are a handful and this creates a supply side constrained scenario (which very rarely benefits the consumer). This eureka moment (more a period of study) lead to the birth of Photo Prints and Gifts (PPG). World-class, affordable photo products and services to the Asia-Pacific region becomes a reality with PPG. PPG is a photo, web, and mobile communications medium that makes photo expressions creative, enjoyable, and effective.

Coming soon from PPG: prints, posters, photo cards, personalized calendars, photo albums and books,business solutions, store my pics – photo archival solutions, and specialty photo gifts.

Online – offline partnership being expanded now – inquiries are welcome

you take or that you have stored on your computer? If you want to learn how to use a photo editor program, or a photo enhancer, there is one place that you should check out. Learning how to edit digital photos can be fun and if you find that you are really enjoying it, you can do it professionally.

If you want to find the best kind of free photo editing programs, you should check out www.photoeditorx.com. This web site if full of information that you can use to not only create and edit digital photos that you have, you can also find out how to get the programs on your computer for free. Once you have the software that you need for photo enhancing, you can begin to have fun creating and editing all of your photos that you have digitally stored on your computer.

All that you have to do is load the digital photos onto your computer, save them in the right format that will be easy for you to enhance and edit and find the right kind of photo enhancing programs, and get started. You can edit photos professionally and easily all with a few easy clicks of your mouse. The programs that you will find on the web site are not only easy to learn and easy to use, they can help you create professional looking results on all of your digital photos. Whether you want to edit something out of a photo, enhance a certain part of a photo or create a whole new photo from one you currently have, you can have fun editing and creating all new photos and enhancements of the current photos that you have.

Finding good programs to use to create enhancements on photos can add a lot of fun and creativity to anything that you want to create from your photos. If you are looking to make a new photo album or any other kind of display that shows your creativity, you can get professional results from a photo enhancing program by going to the http://www.photoeditorx.com web site and see all of the free and affordable programs that you can use. When you want to start having more fun with your digital photos and create new photos, you should find out how to use the easy programs that can make anyone look like a professional. Try it out for yourself and discover how much you can do to enhance the quality of your digital photos.

Are you interested in learning how to be creative and professional with the photos that

Digital photography has arrived, and it is the way of the future. You don’t need an old photographer like me to tell you that.

Forget the traditionalists who insist that film is better. In some ways it definitely is; it is simply not practical in the digital world to continue taking your photos on film. However, that doesn’t mean you should throw your old photos away.

It may come as a shock to some young people, but great photography has existed for many years, done by true artists who relied on camera skills, not computers, to produce their images. Some manipulation was possible in the darkroom by the few who knew how, but most great photography was captured ‘in camera.’

What a shame, then, that so many of these great images are now gathering dust in closets around the world.

Our rush to embrace digital technology was not gradual. Digital cameras made film almost obsolete in just a few short years. With the cameras came computer software, USB cards, online storage and social networking. Almost overnight, everything related to photography involved digital technology. You really could not do anything with a photo unless it was on your computer.

Of course, this is no problem for photos taken now and in the future. Most of us now have digital cameras and are becoming comfortable with software. My concern is, what has happened to all those great photos from the past, taken on film and now out of place in the modern world?

I have been taking photos to sell in my gallery for over twenty years. I appreciate all the benefits of digital photography, but for now I have chosen not to buy a digital camera. I have thousands of photos from my many travels, all taken on colour slides, which I am determined to put to good use.

I just know that when I buy a digital SLR camera and start snapping, all these old slides will be forgotten. They will gather dust, fade, and eventually be good for nothing but throwing away. So my decision to continue working with film is about making sure that doesn’t happen.

These days I am trawling through years of images, picking out the shots that deserve to be seen, and scanning them. As long as they remain on film, they may be out of date; but once converted to digital files they are every bit as good as anything taken on a modern camera. Some people would argue that for quality, they are even better.

Since I started scanning my slides, I have rediscovered a treasure trove of photos from years past. For every photo I have printed and sold, there are ten more photos just as good that have never seen the light of day. Some photos I always knew were there. Others I had forgotten I ever shot. Some of those photos are now on sale and proving more popular than photos I had been selling for all these years.

When you revisit photos after many years, you start to notice things about them that you may not have appreciated before. Sometimes the photo you chose to print first is not the best, although you may have thought so at the time. After admiring one photo of a waterfall for ten years, it is a real eye-opener to remember you also have ten other angles of the same waterfall, taken on the same roll of film but never printed, and each spectacular in its own way.

Scanning your negatives and colour slides does not have to be expensive. You can buy a film scanner for just a few hundred dollars which has the resolution and the software to get the job done. After that, the only thing you have to spend is time.

If scanning them yourself doesn’t appeal, you can pay to have it done professionally. This can cost as little as a few dollars a file, and should include all the colour correction and spot removal you need to make your photos ready for printing. It may be too costly to have all your photos scanned commercially, but you could make a selection of your top 100 to save for posterity.

Whichever way you choose to go about it, I encourage you to revisit your old photos. Don’t allow them to fade and deteriorate in a corner until you get around to throwing them out. Scanning can breathe new life into old memories, and I guarantee you will find some real gems that are worth preserving.