Preserving Photographs

Preserve Your Family Photographs

1. Create a workspace that is large enough to sort photographs, that is safe
from liquids, and away from direct sunlight and heat.

2. Gather family photographs from albums, boxes, and other storage areas. Handle photos
carefully, grasping them at the edges using two hands. Avoid placing fingers directly onto the photos.

3. Organize photographs in groups by date and topic (family trips, holidays, school, celebrations, etc.)
*If photos are glued into a scrapbook, keep them in the scrapbook as originally created.

4. Prioritize your photos: Choose the best in each group and set aside photos that are not good quality.

5. Create a photograph log that identifies each photograph with a number, name, date taken
(approximately if you don’t know the exact date), and notes that describe the photo.

6. Scan each photograph with the color setting, even if it is a black and white photograph.
Make sure you are scanning to a dedicated computer file for your project and that you are
naming or numbering each photograph according to the photograph log. If you are scanning
from a scrapbook with several photos on one page, scan the page as a whole, then scan select
each photo and scan separately. Scan at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (especially if you
are scanning 5×7 or 8×10 photos), however if you wish to be able to reprint and enlarge a
special photograph, use a minimum of 600 dpi. The smaller the photograph, the higher your
resolution needs to be if you wish to print it later in a larger scale, i.e. a small 2×3 should be
scanned at a minimum of 800 dpi in order to reprint it as a 5×7. (*Note: If you are also going
to use the photographs to create a digital photo album or slide show, you don’t need such
high resolution photos, so you can compress them later for that use.)

7. Back-up your photo project file onto a portable hard drive or onto your back-up drive.

8. Keep the original photographs in an archival quality storage box using acid free paper. (For
examples, see www.familyarchives.com.)