A calendar made from old family photos is a great gift for parents, grandparents, and similarly sentimental family members. And by old photos, we mean printed from film and trapped in an album, envelope, or shoebox. Its very easy to upload newer, digital images to an online service to make all sorts of personalized gifts. But to do the same with truly old-fashioned photos, youll need to scan them.

Epson Perfection V550 scanner

Flatbed photo scanners (as opposed to sheetfed document scanners) are incredibly sophisticated these days. Not only do they digitize photos, but they come with software that can often assist with editing tasks such as sharpening, lighting, and cropping. What's more, a moderately priced scanner like the Epson Perfection V550 ($149), which we used for this how-to, can also scan transparencies such as negatives or slides with included special attachments. For scanning prints, a general-purpose scanner, such as one you might find on a multifunction printer, will suffice.

A good rule of thumb as you embark upon this project is to stay calm. Memories are powerful, and even families that don't consider themselves photo nuts likely have tons of old prints lying around. Focus on a select few albums and boxes, and limit the number of pictures to between 30 to 50 photos for your calendar. From that group, pick the best of the lot: The brightest, clearest, sharpest, most colorful, and best-composed shots will make the most successful journey from paper to electronic file and back.

Make sure to clean off your photos, negatives, and your scanner bed bed for a dust- and lint-free scan.

It's pretty simple to get your scanner in gear.If your hardware has been sitting around for awhile, be sure to clean the glass bed to get rid of streaks and dust that will ruin your images. Glass or a specialty cleaner on a soft clothnot directly on the glassworks well.

Similarly, prep your photos and negatives. Clean everything off with lint-free photo cloth such as PEC-12($22) to remove dust, even from prints and negatives that have been sitting safely in an album or negative/slide sleeves. Or use a soft brush. Now you're ready to scan.

Epson scanner interface for the Mac in Home mode.

The most popular consumer scanning software comes from photo-oriented printer companies such as Epson, HP, and Canon.

Epson Scan:Scanner companies typically release analogous PC and Mac versions of their scanner software.Epson's scanning package, which we used for this example, gives you a choice of four modes: Full Auto, Home, Office, and Professional.

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How to turn old photos into new holiday calendars