Short answer
Lay the print flat in soft daylight, hold the phone directly above it so the edges are parallel, avoid glare, and crop tightly to the photo. A free scanning app removes glare and straightens the edges automatically. The sharper the scan, the better the animation.
1. Light without glare
Daylight from a window, without direct sun, is ideal. Turn off the flash: it causes bright spots on glossy prints. Take photos out of plastic album sleeves.
2. Straight above, filling the frame
Hold the phone parallel to the print, directly above it, so the photo fills most of the screen. Tap to focus on the face before taking the picture.
3. Use a scanning app
Scanning apps take several shots and combine them to remove glare, then straighten and crop automatically.
- Google PhotoScan (free, iPhone and Android)
- The document scanner built into Notes on iPhone or Google Drive on Android
- Your phone camera, then crop the edges in the photo editor
4. Crop and check
Crop away the album page and white borders. Zoom in on the face: if it is blurry on your phone, it will look soft on a big screen too, so rescan it.
Do black-and-white photos work?
Yes. Old black-and-white photos animate well, and the story naturally moves into color as the photos do.
What about very small or damaged prints?
Scan them as large as possible. Small tears and scratches are fine; very blurry faces animate softer.