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Gabby before and after digitized negative picture.
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How to Digitize Old Negatives

Learn how you can take old negatives and digitize them to create photos on your computer.
Active Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour
Course: DIY Projects
Yield: 1
Author: Patti Estep
Cost: none

Materials

  • Camera phone - 2 phones or 1 phone and a digital camera
  • Computer
  • Printer

Instructions

  • Go into your settings on your phone and increase the display to the lightest setting.
  • Find a white background on safari or google.
  • Place the negative on the white background on the phone.
  • Take a picture of the negative using another phone or digital camera.
  • Send the picture to your computer via email or other methods.
  • Upload the image to any image editing software. Fotor is free. I use Lightroom and Picmonkey is another good option.
  • Look for a tool called Tone Curves or Curves.
  • If you have the option called Invert just choose that and your negative will turn positive. If not, then drag the lower-left point of the line all the way to the top, followed by dragging the upper right point, dragged to the bottom right. 
  • Play around with the other tools such as color adjustments to warm up the color and get the best possible image.
  • Save your creation, print it, or share with others,
Tried this project?Tag @hearthnvine on Instagram