I've started the immense project of digitizing a literal century's worth of family photos. I'm noticing something interesting: scans of the newer photos, from maybe the 1990s & later, are *awful*: the color is off & the contrast is a nightmare. They all scan dark & garish, requiring some adjustment before saving.

But the older photos, from the 1970s & earlier, scan beautifully. Details are picked up clearly, the color is pretty good, lighting & contrast need little if any adjustment. The black & whites are exceptionally crisp.

Same scanner, same settings. I'm not sure what the difference is.

I do note that paper surface is different for all of them, depending on what photo tech was available at the time the images were taken, & how they were developed. Some are on matte paper, some have a gloss finish, for instance.

& I know from having grown up since the 70s that different cameras produced different quality results - & then there's variables like the photographer, & who developed the images - stuff like, did the photographer know about things like shutter speed & exposure? Did the developer over- or underdevelop the original negative?

Speaking of, the negatives are gone, I have no idea where they went.