How to Photograph an Old Family Photo So It Actually Prints Well

Most of the photographs people want framed are forty years old, in an album, behind plastic film, in somebody else's house. A scanner is the ideal answer and almost nobody has one. A phone is fine if you do it properly.

Take it out of the album if you can

The plastic film over album pages causes most of the glare and haze we have to fix afterwards. If the photo lifts out without tearing, take it out. If it is glued down, do not force it - we can work with a careful photograph of it in place.

Light it with a window, not a flash

1. Put the photo flat on a table near a window, in daylight but not in a beam of direct sun.
2. Stand so your own shadow does not fall across it.
3. Turn the flash off. Always. A flash puts a white blob in the middle of a glossy print.
4. If one side is darker, turn the photo rather than the phone.

Shoot it square and fill the frame

Hold the phone parallel to the photo - directly above, not at an angle - and get close enough that the print fills most of the frame. An angled shot distorts faces in a way that cannot be fully undone, and a small photo in a big frame wastes the resolution you need.

Send the original file

Email it, use a file-sharing link, or send it as a “document” rather than an image in a messaging app. Messaging apps compress photos heavily, and a compressed copy prints soft no matter what we do afterwards.

Family Gifts

Parents' Anniversary Frame

Their wedding photo, reprinted and framed, with the date and the years since.

£92Personalize

Birthday Gifts

Memory Photo Frame

One photo, one line of text, framed to be looked at rather than stored.

£75Personalize

Anniversary Gifts

Anniversary Photo Collage Frame

Up to six photos in one handmade frame, with your names and year engraved.

£115Personalize

What can be fixed

• Creases, tears, tape marks and spotting - usually, yes.
• Yellowing and colour casts - yes.
• Low contrast and faded prints - yes.
• A photo that was always slightly out of focus - no. Sharpening blurred film makes it look worse, not better.
• Someone's face turned away from the camera - no, and we will not invent one with AI.

If a photograph cannot carry the size you want, we will tell you before printing and suggest a smaller frame rather than sell you a soft print in a big one.