How to Scan Old Photos for a Slideshow

The photos in old shoeboxes and albums are often the best ones for a slideshow, but they have to be turned into digital files first. You can do that with your phone, a scanner or a scanning service. A few simple choices decide whether the photos look sharp on a big TV or screen.

Choose How You’ll Scan

There are three good options, and you can mix them:

• Your phone. Fastest for a few dozen photos. Use a photo-scanning app rather than the regular camera. These apps straighten the image, crop it automatically and help cut down on glare from glossy prints.
• A flatbed scanner. Best quality, especially for small or detailed prints, and many all-in-one printers have one built in. It’s slower than a phone, but you can often lay several prints on the glass at once and let the scanner software split them into separate files.
• A scanning service. Some drugstores and department stores with a photo department will scan prints for you or have self-serve machines. That saves a lot of time if you have hundreds of prints. Ask what resolution they scan at and how the files are delivered (download link or USB drive), and keep a list of what you handed over.

What Resolution to Use

Scanners measure detail in dpi, or dots per inch. The higher the number, the more detail the scan captures and the sharper the photo looks when it’s enlarged on a screen. Scan at 300 dpi or higher, and use 600 dpi for small prints such as 3½×5″ and 4×6″. A Full HD screen shows 1920 × 1080 pixels, and small prints are where 300 dpi gets tight. A 3½×5″ print at 300 dpi is 1050 × 1500 pixels, which is just enough for a Full HD screen, with nothing to spare if the slideshow zooms in or crops the photo to fill the screen. At 600 dpi it is 2100 × 3000, with plenty to spare. Here is what each common size gives you:

Print size	At 300 dpi	At 600 dpi
Wallet (2½×3½″)	750 × 1050 px	1500 × 2100 px
3½×5″	1050 × 1500 px	2100 × 3000 px
4×6″	1200 × 1800 px	2400 × 3600 px
5×7″	1500 × 2100 px	3000 × 4200 px
8×10″	2400 × 3000 px	4800 × 6000 px

A few more tips:

• A 5×7″ or larger print at 300 dpi has plenty of detail for a slideshow.
• Wallet-size prints often look soft when enlarged, because the print itself holds little detail. Scan them at 600 dpi and use them sparingly, or pair them with larger photos from the same time.
• Scan in color, even black-and-white photos. Color mode captures the warm tones of old prints and gives you more to work with when fixing faded images.
• Save as high-quality JPG. Slideshow makers and photo apps read it reliably.
• Phone apps don’t use dpi. Fill the frame with the photo and use the app’s highest quality setting. Photograph small prints up close, one at a time.

Preparing the Prints

• Clean the scanner glass and wipe each print gently with a soft, dry microfiber cloth or brush. Dust shows up as specks on every scan. Don’t use water or cleaning sprays on photos.
• Handle prints by the edges to avoid fingerprints.
• Don’t force photos out of old “magnetic” albums. If a print is stuck, scan the whole album page and crop it afterwards instead of risking a tear.
• Flatten curled prints under a heavy book for a day before scanning, rather than pressing them hard against the glass.
• Check the back. Handwritten dates and names make it much easier to put a slideshow in order. Scan or photograph the backs too, or note the details as you go.

Fixing Faded or Dark Photos

Most scanner software and phone apps can straighten and crop automatically. After that, a few small adjustments are usually all a photo needs:

• For faded color, an “auto color” or “auto tone” button often fixes the red or yellow cast old prints develop.
• If a photo is too dark or too light, adjust brightness and contrast slightly.
• For crooked or uneven edges, crop a little tighter to remove borders and white edges.

Go easy on sharpening, and be careful with “AI enhance” and upscaling tools. They can make faces look waxy or add details that weren’t in the photo. A slightly soft but natural photo looks better in a slideshow than an over-processed one.

Naming and Organizing the Files

A few minutes of organizing now saves time when you build the slideshow:

• Put the year in each file name so you can tell what belongs together: 1974-beach.jpg, 1981-christmas.jpg. If you only know the decade, use 1970s-camping.jpg.
• Keep one folder per year, or per decade if you don’t know the exact years. When you build the slideshow, upload one year’s photos at a time. That keeps each year’s photos together in the slideshow.
• Keep a backup copy on a USB drive or in cloud storage before you start editing or sharing.
• If family members are scanning their own photos, gather everything in one shared folder so nothing gets lost in emails and text messages.

When your photos are scanned and organized, our guide to creating a photo slideshow walks through uploading them and putting the slideshow together.