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 those printed from film and trapped in an album, envelope, or shoe box. Its 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 also come with software that often can assist with editing tasks such as sharpening, lighting, and cropping. Whats more, a moderately priced scanner such as the Epson Perfection V550 ($149), which we used for this how-to, can scan transparencies such as negatives or slides with included special attachments. For scanning prints, a general-purpose scanner, such as one you might find ona 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 who dont 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 for your calendar to 30 to 50 photos. 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 your photos, your negatives, and your scanner bed for a dust- and lint-free scan.

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

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

The most popular consumer scanning software comes from photo-oriented printer companies such as Canon, Epson, and HP. Youd be surprised at how much they can do; well review the Epson Scan software as an example.

Epsons scanner-utility interface in Windows 8

Epson Scan:Scanner companies typically release analogous PC and Mac versions of their scanner software. Epsons scanning package gives you a choice of four modes: Full Auto, Home, Office, and Professional.

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