Correcting scanned slides in 2024

February 5, 2024 6:45 AM

I've been scanning a bunch of old family slides and (no surprise) many need to be adjusted. Two questions - 1. Any recommendations for best tools to do this in 2024 - AI is evolving so quickly and I'm finding a lot of old recommendations and 2. Any tips for the best workflow if these are stored in Google Photos via a computer (more on this below)

I uploaded the photos to Google Photos directly from a scanner. I'm finding some AI apps I can install on my phone, but in order to edit the photos, I have to download each one to my phone and upload it to the app, then download and re-upload to Google Photos. Trying to search for apps that integrate with Google Photos hasn't been helpful so far, but I assume they exist...

posted by beyond_pink to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

Best answer: There are, for the most part, NOT apps that integrate into Google photos with editing in mind. I'm not sure why but I think the APIs just don't offer the read/write integration. I have apps that backup to Google Photos (without using the actual Google Photos client) but I'm not aware of anything that will edit "in place" in Google photos.

Even for Lightroom Classic (the app with, AFAIK, the best plugin ecosystem for photo management type programs) there is no Google Photos plugin that allows you to edit photos in place. There are plugins to publish results to Google photos, but that's basically what you're doing now.

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In terms of editing old photos I highly recommend Topaz Photo AI . I use their product and have been very happy with it. It's not free, but there's a 30 day refund period so you can test out whether it'll work for you.
posted by tiamat at 9:02 AM on February 5, 2024 [1 favorite]

Does it need to be on your phone?
I use Corel Paintshop Pro on Windows for this, but I would probably recommend Photoshop Elements as a better choice for most, since you can find a zillion Photoshop tutorials online and most work with the 'home version' Elements
posted by TimHare at 9:04 AM on February 5, 2024

Response by poster: I actually have proper Photoshop and am a power user! I was just looking for a way to do this that's less manual and time consuming. Tiamat, thanks for confirming that I'm not just doing a bad job searching for integrated apps.
posted by beyond_pink at 10:53 AM on February 5, 2024