Whether you’re going through a life change or simply want to preserve old photos for your family’s history, old photographs make a great art project. Many companies offer services to recover photos and provide them on CDs, DVDs, or flash drives. To get the most out of your old photographs, it’s a good idea to use dental floss when removing them from albums. This will prevent damage to the photos. If you’re looking for a great project to display your old photos, you can use them as inspiration for creating collages.
Whether you want to remember happy memories of your past or simply wish to remember how you looked when you were younger, old photographs can be a wonderful way to do so. While looking through these photos can be painful, they can also offer a wealth of education. It’s important to revisit your earliest photos to understand how far you’ve come. And who can blame you if you’d rather remember how much fun you had with your friends and family than laugh about embarrassing pictures of yourself?
The easiest way to digitise old photographs is to scan them. You can use a photo-digitizing service to have them scanned. But be warned: sending your photos to an unknown party may not be the best idea. You don’t want to expose yourself to possible scams. Just remember to carefully select a professional if you want your old photos to be in good hands. You can also send a collection of old photos to a friend or family member who knows how to do it.
Early photographs often feature closed mouths. This is because early processes had a long exposure time. It was not uncommon for people to hold their mouths closed while taking photos, so smiling was not considered desirable. But even then, people preferred poses that were comfortable for them. Those posed without smiles were still considered performative portraits. Compared to today’s posed photos, they were far from formal, painted portraits. Besides, the lack of smiles in old photos suggests that the era was fraught with social and legal problems.
Another reason to digitize your collection is to protect it from damage. Physical photos are prone to discoloration, water damage, and accidental tears. Using a digital version means you’ll have endless backups and can store your photos on an external hard drive the size of a deck of cards. And digital versions don’t take up much space. So, if you’ve got a collection of old photos, why not consider scanning them instead?
Besides looking for faces, you can also examine the clothing and hairstyle of the people in the photo. These clues will help you determine the time period of the picture. While you’re comparing photographs, keep in mind that the fashion trends of the past often change. If you’re not sure how to tell which clothes or hairstyles are appropriate for a particular time period, you can check out websites or books dedicated to this topic.
Apart from identifying people in old photographs, you can also find out their occupations. It may even be possible to identify a certain family member in an old photo. By identifying his occupation, you’ll be able to tell the exact time period the photo was taken. Then, you can begin to make your family tree more complete and detailed. By the end of this project, you’ll have more photographs and stories to share about your family’s history.
As technology improved, people began to smile in photographs. These early photographs were not only functional, but they also reflected a new sense of the photographic portrait. The first photographs were painted, and their subjects often hid their faces, but the art of painting and photography started to interact. Painters repainted their portraits in a way that mimicked the spontaneity of the photographs, while photographers tried to imitate the artfulness of the paintings. During the Edwardian era, which lasted approximately 1895-1914, people began to smile in an effervescent way in their portraits. World War II would complete this shift in photographic norms.
Tintypes were introduced in the mid-1800s. They were popular until the mid-19th century. Even then, tintype photo studios were still operating. Tintypes were thinner than ambrotypes and were placed under glass, but later they were put in cardboard sleeves. Typical tintype sizes are two and a half by three-half inches, but they’re often mounted on heavy card stock and displayed in cabinets.
