We all have them – new ones, old ones, colour ones, black and white ones. Maybe in albums, maybe in boxes, maybe both.

Recently, while looking for two or three specific photos for another blog post (which I did find), I came across this one of my parents and thought why not scan it at the same time?

This square photo had a white border around it, albeit yellowed but there was no date stamped on it. Back in the day, when they came back from the lab after processing pictures almost always had the three letter abbreviation for the month and the last two digits of the year stamped on the border – usually on the side.

My guess is this one was taken in the 1950s possibly before 1956.

My Epson scanner has a colour restoration feature. Click the box before or after you do the scan and you can see the difference on the computer screen.

I don’t always like using this feature. I think an ‘aged’ photograph has more character. But in this case, I thought it was worth saving both versions of the photo. In the lower picture, my mum’s suit is bluer and my dad’s shirt is whiter.

What do you think? Colour restore your yellowed photos when you scan them or leave them be?