How to digitally preserve your family photos

From the great grandparent's wedding portrait to those decades-old baby photos, nothing is more cherished than the memories captured on family photographs. And nothing is more heart-breaking than losing those precious pictures in a natural disaster, like a fire or flood -- or simply from wear and tear.

It seems like most of us don't even think about preserving photos until it's too late. We keep piles of printed pictures stuffed in drawers, packed away in boxes or collecting dust in some corner of the attic, pulling them out only on special occasions.

Yet printed photos represent irreplaceable family moments worth preserving for future generations. And with tools such as scanners, image editing software, and CD burners, there's no reason to postpone protecting your photos and risk losing them forever. Here's how to start archiving your visual family history.

Sort your photos

The first step is to gather all of the photos you want to preserve. This can be a fun family project, going through old albums and boxes to find everyone's favorite photos. You might not need to save every snapshot of every cousin, or the blurry images of the dog's tail, but at least collect the photos that mean the most to your family. As you go through albums and boxes, try to handle the prints and negatives as little as possible, and touch them only by the edges (the oils on your hands can damage the delicate surface of photos over time).

Get scanning

When it comes to saving old photos, the best thing you can do is to scan them into a computer. A scanner is similar to a printer. It essentially makes copies of your prints and then creates a digital version that goes in your computer. You can buy a good quality scanner for as little as a $100, and they've become so easy to use it's almost like working a copy machine -- and we all know how to use those!

If you dread the idea of using a scanner, or you don't have time to scan dozens of photos yourself, there are services that will do this for you. The process is called digitizing. Most photography shops and stores that develop film also offer scanning services. Just bring in your prints or negatives and for a fee (depending on how many images you have) they'll scan your images and save them to a CD so you can transfer the digital images to your computer.

Repair and touch-up

If you have a lot of old photos, there's a good chance they've already suffered some damage over the years. Some may be faded or torn, creased from folding or stained by water and humidity. This is where your computer can help.

Repairing old photos is a delicate art, but the results are well worth the effort. Once your photos are scanned or transferred to your computer via CD, the next step is to do some touch-up and repair. You can do this yourself with image editing software found at any computer store. With this software you can correct red-eye, or resize photos.

Some image editing software has tools that can also repair scratches by matching damaged areas of a picture to the colors and patterns that surround them. You may also want to use a cloning tool, which can copy one section of an image to be pasted into another -- a great way to replace a torn corner or cover an element of an image you want to hide.

Safeguard and share

Even after scanning, you should still protect the original prints as best you can by storing them in archival quality boxes or books (available in most craft and art stores). To prevent further damage, look for albums that allow you to easily label your photos without actually writing on the prints.

After your photos are scanned and repaired, make sure you make back up copies on CDs or DVDs -- or a removable hard drive for larger photo collections -- and then store them out of the house in case disaster strikes. The best way to protect family photos is to keep copies of your entire photo CD collection at a family member's house or the home of a good friend who will keep them safe for you.

You can also put copies of your photos on the Internet by uploading them to one of the many online photos sites, such as Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly, flickr or snapfish. As an added bonus, these services make it easy for you to share photo galleries with friends and family over the Internet, order prints and even create customized t-shirts, calendars and gifts.

By taking these precautions with your family photos, you'll be able to protect and share your beloved pictures -- and even if the worst disaster strikes, your memories will be safe and sound.