A phone, soft daylight, and a steady hand.

Set up before you take the picture

1. Take the print out of its sleeve or frame only if it comes out easily. Do not force a curled print or a fragile album to lie flat.
2. Lay the print on a flat, dark, matte surface near a window with indirect daylight. Avoid direct sun and overhead lamps that reflect in the surface.
3. Wipe the phone’s lens. Fingerprints are a common cause of hazy copies.
4. Turn the flash off for an ordinary camera photo. A flash on a glossy print usually creates a bright spot.
5. Hold the phone directly above the print and parallel to it. Turning on the camera’s grid lines helps you keep the edges straight.
6. Tap on the face to focus and hold still. Bracing your elbows on the table helps.
7. Take three or four shots, then compare them at full size and keep the sharpest.

Using a scanning app such as PhotoScan

Google’s PhotoScan app works differently from the ordinary camera. You line up the photo, then move the phone over four dots in turn while it captures several images, which it combines to reduce glare. It can use the flash as part of that process, which is the opposite of the advice for a single camera shot.

Whichever method you use, check the saved image at full size. A copy that looks fine on a small screen can be soft when you zoom in.

Ordinary camera or scanning app?

After you take the picture

• Crop a copy to remove the table and edges. Keep the uncropped version too.
• Check the file type. If your iPhone saved a HEIC file, follow the HEIC to JPG guide.
• Check the size: at least 512 pixels on each side. Our resolution guide has a calculator.
• Put the original print back somewhere safe. The National Archives recommends keeping your originals after digitizing them.