If you've ever used a disposable camera, you know that the picture quality isn't always the best. Photos can come back dark and with uneven lighting. Especially if the photos are from an important event, you will want to improve the quality. One of the most effective ways to lighten and store disposable camera photos is to scan them into your computer and adjust the lighting, and then save them as a file on your computer. You can also manipulate the scanned pictures in other ways to greatly improve the overall quality.
Instructions
Lighten Your Photos
1. Take your disposable camera to a photo-developing lab. Once you have the prints from your camera, place the negatives in a safe place, away from dust and light. Assess the photos. Separate the pictures into two piles--one pile for photos that don't need any lightening and the other for those that do.
2. Turn on your computer and scanner. The scanner should be set to scan color photos at a minimum of 300 dots per inch. Anything less than 300 dpi will give you low-quality pictures. If the scanner isn't set to scan color photos, it will also reduce the quality of the photo.
3. Place the photos on the scanning glass one at a time and press the scan button. The image should appear on your computer screen. Once all the photos are uploaded to your computer, put the originals somewhere for safe keeping.
4. Review each photo on your computer to confirm you want to lighten it. Find the light tone button on your scanning software. Many scanning programs have an auto-fix button that will automatically assess the photo and make lighting adjustments. Attempt to use this feature first if the software has one. If it doesn't offer this feature, or you don't like the way the auto-adjust worked, adjust the lighting yourself by moving the lighting bar toward "lighter."
5. Save your changes and store the photos on your computer or with an online photo storage space. Send your now-digital photos to an online photo lab or a store for printing.
Tags: your computer, disposable camera, adjust lighting, color photos, online photo, scan color, scan color photos
