The digital era we live in made the majority of us forget all about analog photography. Even so, the majority of us still have at least one- or two films we didn’t get to turn into photos laying around in the house. Now, we can easily transfer photos from an analog film to our computers with the help of a simple cardboard box, a few sheets of paper and a light bulb. Of course, in order to save them on a computer, you will also need a digital camera. After saving them on your computer, you can easily modify them in Photoshop or other similar programs.
First, you will need a cardboard box. A shoebox is just perfect for this purpose. Then, you have to cut a hole, the exact size of a film frame. Over this cut-out, you need to glue a simple white sheet of paper. You don’t have to glue it all around, only the sides, so the paper doesn’t stand perfectly stretched. From another sheet of paper, you will need to cut out a piece, exactly the width of three film rolls. This piece of paper needs to be folded in three, just like in the video. Cut the sides, and glue the folded pieces together, so that you’ll have a support for the film from the middle of which you’ll have to cut out another film frame.
When you pull the analog film through this support, only one frame will be visible. Those who would like to transfer their photos from the analog film to their computers will need to glue the support over the film-frame shaped hole cut out from the box. Over this cut-out, place a roll made from black-colored paper. Make sure that every inch of the paper is black, otherwise, it will be useless. Put a lightbulb into the box and turn it on. It will light the picture frame that is exactly on the hole cut in the box, making the negative visible. Now, take a picture of every frame you’d like to save on your computer with a digital camera and then download them on your PC or laptop.
The negatives you now have saved on your computer are easy to process in Photoshop. By clicking CTRL+I and adjusting the levels and the colors of the image, you will have the original image. This is quite great, isn’t it? Making the cardboard-box device might take up a little bit of your time, but you only have to make it once. After building it, you can save as many pictures from an analog film as you want on your computer. Turning your negatives into photos is extremely easy, and you don’t need to go to a photographer to save them.
