Monday, May 21, 2012

Scan your old photos with your phone


Wish you could easily scan & store old photos with your phone?

There's an app for that! 


At times it feels as if keeping up with technology can be more of a curse than a gift. It seems about 1.92 million (give or take) apps are released each day. Which do I need? How many can I ignore? Do I need an app that keeps track of my calorie intake? my love life? my book list? my bucket list?  


I have a lot of old photos that I'd love to preserve electronically. Going back into the house for my photos and scrapbooks during a fire is something I might just do. So potentially downloading ShoeBox 2.0 might just be life saving! How many apps can say that?


I think easily scanning old photos might appeal to other scrapbookers because I know I've been torn  when I want to make a layout using an old photo {insert horror scream here} the only copy that exists of said old photo. 


What to do?  Take it out of the album it's been carefully preserved in for decades to slap it down on a page of questionable archivability? In an age where you can print multiples of any photo on your hard drive, it's no biggie to scrap a recent photo. If you need another copy, you can always just print another! But when it's the only copy you have of yourself at five, with the self-inflicted haircut and plaid bell bottoms, it may cause you pause.  Orrrrr, you could drag out your scanner and scan the single photo as an enormous file to crop and adjust at a later date. That's if you remember which convoluted and well-hidden place on your hard-driver you choose to save it! 



Or, with just a few easy steps, you can save it to an electronic shoebox, ready when you need it.

What it does: Puts a powerful photo scanner in your pocket by getting your old photos out of the shoebox and info the 21st century.

What is costs: Nothing, nada, zip, FREE!

What type of phone: This app with work on both iPhone and Android phones

Bonus Features: You can organize the photos right back into “shoeboxes” by categorizing them as you wish and the photo is also saved right to your phone's photo stream.

ShoeBox 2.0 was super easy to use. I snapped a photo of my photo, cropped slightly, adjusted the color & exposure and created the virtual shoebox where I wanted to store my blast from the past.

After the minor adjustments, I was able to name the photo, tag someone if I wanted, choose the decade, exact date if I knew it, location and even share it on Facebook! After it loads to your phone you also have the options to share via Twitter or email.

I think ShoeBox 2.0 is a handy app to have!

Tracy


3 comments:

  1. Wonderful Information.....
    Thank you for Sharing.
    sarinda

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for this! I had actually been thinking of this lately!

    ReplyDelete