Before you start
You don’t need to take the photos out to scan them. In most cases it is safer, and quicker, to capture each page as it is and separate the photos afterwards.
Work on a clean, clear table with the album fully supported. Don’t let the cover or pages hang over the edge.
Make one Nostalgia album for each physical album, and give it the name written on the cover or the name the family uses for it, such as “Grandma’s wedding album”.
Photograph the cover and the first page before anything else. They often carry a name, a date or a dedication.
Plan to work a few pages at a time. Put a paper bookmark in the album when you stop so you know where to start next time.
Sticky magnetic albums
Many albums from the 1960s to the 1990s use “magnetic” pages: an adhesive card under a clear plastic sheet. Over time the glue can yellow and the plastic can hold the prints tightly.
Leave stuck photos in place. Pulling, prying or sliding a blade under a print can tear the paper, crack the emulsion or leave the back on the page. Capture the page with the photos where they are.
Keep the plastic sheet down if it won’t lift easily. Scanning through the sheet is fine. Use the glare tips below to keep reflections off faces.
Only lift a photo that is already loose. If a print comes away without force, capture its back as well, then return it to the same spot.
Ask for help with anything valuable or fragile. A photo conservator can advise on removing prints from a deteriorating album safely.
The goal for today is a good digital copy of every page. Rehousing the originals is a separate job that can wait.
Scan album pages with your phone
A phone is often the easiest choice for albums, because the album can stay open flat on the table. Open the scanner in the Nostalgia mobile app, or take photos with your usual camera and upload them later.
Lay the album open on a flat surface in even, indirect daylight. Turn off the flash. Two lamps at about 45 degrees on either side work well at night.
Hold the phone directly above the page, parallel to it, so the photos are not skewed. Check that your shadow isn’t falling on the page.
Capture the whole page first. This keeps the layout and any captions together.
Nostalgia suggests each photo on the page. Check every suggested crop before you accept the split, and add a crop for any print it missed.
For a small or important photo, take a second, closer capture so faces and writing have more detail.
The app’s glare-reduction capture can help with glossy prints and plastic sleeves. Zoom in on faces and handwriting before moving on. A reflection over a face is a reason to try again.
Scan album pages on a flatbed
A flatbed gives the sharpest copy, but only use it when the album can lie on the glass without forcing the spine.
Albums with removable pages: take out one page at a time, scan it face down, then put it back before taking the next one.
Bound albums that open flat: place the open page face down on the glass, support the rest of the album on the table and leave the lid up. Don’t press down on the spine.
Tight or fragile bindings: use your phone instead.
Scan at 600 DPI in colour, including for black-and-white pages, and save the full page as PNG or TIFF. On Mac, Nostalgia for Mac scans into an album and suggests the separate photos for you to check. On web, import the full-page file into Scan Station and review the suggested crops. The scanning guide has the full settings.
Keep the captions and the order
The person who made the album already did some of the work for you. Keep it.
- Captions on the page
- Your full-page capture keeps them. Copy names, places and dates into each photo’s notes so they stay with the photo when you share it.
- Page order
- Save photos into the album in the order they appear. Events, holidays and growing children usually run in sequence, which helps date the photos you’re unsure about.
- Unknown faces
- Leave the name blank rather than guessing. Share the photo with a relative and ask who it is. That’s often how the best stories come out.
- Dates
- Add the date the photo was taken if you know it, even roughly, such as “summer 1972”. The date you scan it is not the same thing.
Fix common problems
- Glare from the plastic sheet
- Move the light to the side, turn off overhead lights and the flash, or tilt the album slightly away from the window. A flatbed avoids glare if the page can lie flat.
- Curved pages near the spine
- Capture that photo on its own from directly above it rather than forcing the album flatter.
- Yellowed or faded prints
- Scan them as they are. Once they’re saved, you can restore faded or damaged photos and keep the original scan beside the result.
- Photos missed or joined together
- Add or adjust the crop outlines before saving. Busy album backgrounds can make edges harder to find.
Start with one page
Pick the album that matters most, capture its first page, and see how it looks. Preserve the photos. Keep the family story.