CHRISTMAS IS A nostalgic time and many of you may be flicking through old family photos, smiling about the good times you had, laughing about the funny hairstyles and sharing stories about people you miss.
Though many people favour digital photos over printed ones now, those images in the family albums are something to cherish – and something to preserve.
Last month, Google launched a new app that will allow users to digitise their old photo prints so they can keep them safe and share them.
The PhotoScan app for iPhones and Android phones will use the phone’s camera to capture an old photo in four sections and stitch them together, much like a panorama shot.
Google says this approach helps eliminate glare that can mar attempts to digitise a print by simply taking a picture of the whole photo. The app will also make minor adjustments to restore color in faded photos and to aligned corners when the photo print is bent.
So, if you have some downtime in between stuffing your face with Roses and arguing over whether to watch Elf or Miracle on 34th Street next, here’s how you can do it:
First, download the app from either the Google Play Store or the AppStore, depending on your device.
Open it up and hold the phone over any photo – that can be print on a table, in a picture frame or in an album.
Take four snaps of the picture, making sure you capture each section of it. And let the app do its work.
The resolution of the digitised photo should be comparable to that from a flatbed scanner.
If you have the Google Photos service, you can store the digitised versions of your photos there and you can, of course, share them with friends and family.
- With reporting by Associated Press.
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