Scanning/Digitizing Scrapbooks - Help requested

Hmm. I've never done this but if I were going to do it I would try and update my phone storage first. It would be the cheapest route.

Look at the machines at Staples or a copy center, if they have the wide scanners, you can scan yourself using their machines and just pay per scan to a USB drive.

Or take photos with a camera, white foam board and good natural light.

Or take photos with your phone and maybe an app like PicScanner Gold that Angie Lucas mentioned on IG. You don't have to keep ALL the photos on your phone forever. Upload them to Dropbox or Google Photos as needed.

I would talk to someone at a photography place. I scanned a bunch of 8 1/2" pages with my home printer/scanner and they did not come out nearly as crisply as the ones scanned by our local shop.

Don't know if any of the Kodak kiosks can handle 12x12?

When I photograph my own pages, I have trouble getting the photo completely lined up (tip my phone one direction or the other and then that side/corner is skewed larger than the rest of the LO in the photo.) If you are going to photograph all those pages yourself, it might be worth investing in one of those light(?) boxes where your camera or phone is positioned at the top and you lay your page flat on the bottom. justjac was researching them a couple of years ago.

I used to scan my 12x12 on a smaller format scanner. I'd scan in one side, save it, scan the other side, save it, then use the MERGE tool with Photoshop Elements to merge the two together. That was back when 2 peas gallery was around!! I'm not sure PSE program has a merge tool anymore. I switched to digital layouts and have them printed into books.

This will work. To minimize the lens distortion you need to get back away from it and use the zoom lens to come back in to fill the frame, squaring it up as much as you can. There will still be a little distortion at the corners but it is quickly and easily fixed in PSE by grabbing the corner handles and pulling the image out square. Once it’s printed you can’t even tell it was distorted.

I put my layouts flat on a table under good lighting (natural light is best) and stand on a step stool to get up high enough to put enough distance between the lens and the surface of the layout.

I know what you mean. I have a ton of albums, too, and it seems overwhelming.  I also know, however, that even a mammoth project can be accomplished and completed a little at a time. It's easier than it seems.

I had at least 2,000 wood mounted rubber stamps.

I knew we were going to be moving halfway across the country, and we'd be paying the cost of moving ourselves. Those wood mounted stamps were going to be too much weight and take up too much space, but I did not want to get rid of them. The thought of unmounting 2,000 stamps, though, seemed absolutely crazy and overwhelming.

I did several at a time, a day here and a day there. I eventually got them all done but a few, which are still waiting to be done. I love having all my stamps unmounted. It's easier to find what I want. Even more importantly, I learned that even a huge, overwhelming task can be accomplished if you do a little at a time.

I want to photograph all my pages and turn them into digital files. I will have to do it the same way, here a little and there a little.

This is a good reminder that all our small efforts can really add up!