Personalized memorial products, delivered with care.

Printed photos

Turn your old printed photos into a slideshow

Spread a few prints on a table and take one photo of them with your phone. Each print becomes its own photo, cropped and straightened, and they go straight into a memorial slideshow set to music that you can watch right away.

Start with your printsHave us build the slideshow

Scanning your prints comes with every slideshow. Or keep just the photos as a download for $29.

What your prints become

The opening of a memorial slideshow made with Embrance

A slideshow with every print

Your prints are placed in a slideshow set to music as soon as they are ready. Watch it, add more photos or videos, change the music, and buy it when it feels right.

Or just the photos

Every print as its own photo file, for $29. We email you the download link.

How to photograph your prints

  1. Spread out your prints

    Put a few prints on a flat surface with a little space between them.

    Five old printed photographs spread out on dark wood, seen from straight above, with space around each one.

    • A plain, dark surface

      Use a flat surface in one plain colour that is darker than your prints. A dark cloth or a wooden floor works well. This lets us see where each print ends.

    • A finger's width apart

      Leave a little space between the prints. If two prints touch, they come out as one photo.

    • Four to six at a time

      With fewer prints in the picture, each one comes out sharper.

  2. Take one photo

    Use your phone's camera and take the picture from straight above.

    A hand holding a phone flat above several old prints, with the prints showing on its screen.

    • Daylight

      Work near a window during the day. Make sure your shadow does not fall on the prints.

    • Straight above

      Hold your phone flat and level, right above the middle of the prints.

    • Get every print in the picture

      Move closer until the prints fill the screen, with a little space still showing around each one.

  3. What to avoid

    Each of these can make a print come out badly.

    • Old printed photographs piled on top of each other, overlapping.

      Overlapping prints

      If prints overlap or touch, they come out as one photo.

    • Old prints under an overhead lamp, with a bright shine washing out three of them.

      Glare from a lamp

      A shine on a print can hide the faces. Turn off the ceiling light and use daylight from a window instead.

    • A row of old prints photographed from a low angle, so the far ones look small and slanted.

      Taken from the side

      When you take the picture from an angle, the far prints come out small and blurry. Stand right over the prints instead.

  4. Check each print

    We outline each print we find, and each one becomes its own photo, cropped and straightened. A photo that should stay whole can stay as one.

    The same photo of five prints, with an outline around each print.
    • Black and white print of a woman standing in a flower garden.
    • Faded colour print of three children laughing on a porch.
    • Black and white wedding portrait of a bride and groom.
    • Colour print of a grandmother and a small girl on a park bench.
    • Colour print of a family laughing around a picnic table.

What happens to each print

  • We cut it out along its edges, even if it was lying crooked.
  • We straighten it so it looks like it was scanned flat.
  • We crop off the background and the white border.
  • We keep the colours just as they are on the print.

Where to find it

A slideshow we build for you
The link we email you has an Add printed photos button. It shows you how to take the picture, then lets you check each print, one step at a time.
A slideshow you make yourself
Click Start with your prints and the scanner opens with this guide. After you take the picture, each print it finds becomes its own photo, cropped and straightened, and one press puts any picture back the way you took it. Then your prints are in a slideshow, ready to watch. If you find more prints later, the same guide is under Printed photos in the editor.
Just the photos
Click Start with your prints and add your photos the same way. When your prints are ready, choose Just the photos. You get one download of every photo for $29, and we email you the link.

Frequently asked questions

How many prints can I photograph at once?

Four to six at a time works best. With fewer prints in the picture, each one comes out sharper. You can fit up to 32 small prints in one photo if you leave space between them.

Do the prints need white borders?

No. We just need to see where each print ends, and a white border makes that easy. For prints without a border, put them on something darker than the photos, like a dark cloth, with about a finger's width of space between them.

What about prints in an album?

You can photograph the album page as it is. Prints on an album page often sit very close together, so sometimes the page stays as one photo. If you can, take the prints out and spread them apart before you take the picture.

Will it fix a faded or damaged print?

We crop and straighten each print, and we keep the colours just as they are. A faded print will look the way it does in your hand.

Can I undo it?

Yes. You can put the prints back as one photo at any time. The original photo always stays saved in your slideshow's files.

Does it cost extra?

No. It comes with every slideshow, whether we make it for you or you make it yourself. If you only want the photos, you can keep them as a download for $29 instead.

Can I get just the photos?

Yes. Click Start with your prints and photograph your prints. When they are ready, choose Just the photos. It is one download of every photo you added, for $29, and we email you the link.

Where do the photographs go?

They are saved in your slideshow's private files, like any other photo you add. Only the people you share the slideshow with can see them.

Start with the prints you have

Make it yourself and watch it come together as you add photos. Or tell us who it is for, and we'll make the whole slideshow for you.

Start with your printsHave us build it