ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Restoring my old photographs

Updated on September 27, 2012
Me... a long time ago
Me... a long time ago | Source

Digging up bones

Way back before digital cameras, I had a standard 35mm camera. I loved to take pictures of pretty much everything. I saved a large majority of the negatives that they gave you when you went to get your photos developed.

Over time, most of my "hard copies" were lost in one way or the other. The only thing I really had left were the negatives. So a few years back there was a deal on something called a FilmScan 35 i. I had never heard of such a thing, so I read the advertisement to see what it did.

To my delight, it scanned negatives and turned them into digital images on my computer! I was over joyed to say the least. I did what anyone with a huge box of negatives would have done, I rushed right out and bought it!

my now 11 year old son, the day he was born.
my now 11 year old son, the day he was born. | Source
A trip up to see grandpa
A trip up to see grandpa | Source

The memories fade

Apparently I hadn't taken really good care of my negatives, or maybe they have a short life span... I'm not sure which, but the quality of the scanned negatives were (as you can see) less than high quality.

While I was over joyed by the fact that I could have at least some sort of renewed photographs that I had once believed to be lost forever, I couldn't help but feel a little saddened at the poor color quality. Not to mention the little specks and dots from the years not being kind to the delicate negative.

Amazing Grace

After scanning the mostly blue colored negatives onto my computer, I was then able to transfer them to my image retouching software. Now, I don't have the top of the line, by any means (and I'm sure they would look a ton better if I did), but some color is better than no color... or just blue!

It's a long, slow process trying to find just the right mix of tint, shading, highlights, and other alterations in order to get the picture to look more like it did when I took it; but it's worth it.

The kids love to see the old pictures of when they were little. They laugh and point. It makes them feel special to see the memories they were too small to remember.

Onward and Upward

The newer models of "negative transfer to digital" devices work much better than the original versions. With all of the software out there to touch up and alter photographs, anyone can have their old memories looking new again. All it takes is a little time, money, and patience.

I have many more negatives left that need to be converted to digital and retouched. I've barely scratched the surface of my stash. It's nice to take a stroll down memory lane.

If you have negatives saved from way back when you had a 35mm, I highly encourage you to check out the new technologies that are available for converting them. You'll be glad you did.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)