How to restore your old photos to add them to your genealogy?

Old photos can be restored using modern technologies before being integrated into your genealogy.

Follow our step-by-step guide:  

Step 1: Prepare your photos 

Before starting the restoration, make sure your photos are ready to be digitized. Here are some tips:

• Gentle cleaning: use a soft, dry cloth to gently remove dust and dirt from the surface.

• Handling: if your photos are very damaged, wear cotton gloves to avoid further damage. 

Step 2: Digitize your photos

Digitization is a crucial step to restore your photos:

• Use a good quality scanner.

• Proper scanner settings: scan your photos at a resolution of at least 300 dpi to ensure good image quality.

• Choose the right file format: save your files in TIFF or PNG format to avoid any quality loss.

Step 3: Digitally restore your photos

Once your photos are digitized, you can use photo editing software to restore them. Make sure to make a copy of your photos before editing them:  

• Correct colors: adjust the color balance, contrast, and saturation to revive the colors faded over time. 

• Touch up imperfections: use tools like the clone stamp to repair tears and scratches. Find the clone tool and other more powerful tools to repair your old photos in dedicated photo processing software like Photoshop, Photoglory, Gimp...

• Improve sharpness: adjust the sharpness and definition to improve the clarity of details.

📸With Geneafinder's photo editing tool, you can adjust contrast, brightness, saturation, opacity, sharpness, convert your photo to black and white or sepia, rotate, zoom or resize.

Step 4: Add your photos to your genealogy

After restoring your photos, it's time to integrate them into your genealogy to ensure a digital backup:

• Use Geneafinder's gallery: import your photos, videos, and audio into your Geneafinder gallery. You have at least 20 GB of secure storage to ensure a digital backup of your family memories.

• Identify people in photos: annotate your photos (add dates, places, notes) and identify each person in the photos. You can also add profile photos to your ancestors in your family tree.

• Share the gallery with your family: create digital albums that you can share with your family members. Also enjoy the Slideshow mode to enjoy them together.

📸 You just found some family photos and don't know where to start? Follow our guide “What to do with your old family photos? 10 steps to do it right”.

By following these steps, you will be able to preserve your precious family memories and enrich your genealogy with restored images. To go even further, consider subscribing to our Premium features. Enjoy advanced tools to improve your photos, storage space from 20 to 200 GB, and many other features for your genealogy!

Subscribe today and preserve your family heritage from the effects of time!