Use your editing app’s contrast or levels tool to deepen the darkest areas and brighten the lightest areas, watching that you do not lose detail at either extreme.
What you need
- The flat or hazy scanned photo
- Google Photos, Apple Photos, or Photoshop Elements
- 5 to 15 minutes
Why old scans look flat
A hazy, flat look in old scans is often caused by the original print fading, dust on the scanner glass reducing sharpness and contrast, or a scanner setting that captured a wider brightness range than needed — a contrast adjustment can usually improve the look regardless of the original cause.
How to adjust the contrast
- Open the scanned photo in your editing app and find its contrast tool — a simple slider in Google Photos and Apple Photos under Adjust, or the more precise Levels tool in Photoshop Elements (Enhance, then Adjust Lighting, then Levels).
- If using a simple slider, increase contrast gradually, checking the photo as you go, and stop once shadows and highlights look rich without looking harsh or blocked up.
- If using Levels in Photoshop Elements, look at the histogram graph it shows — drag the black point slider in slightly from the left, and the white point slider in slightly from the right, until they meet the edges of the actual data in the graph.
- Check the midtone slider (the grey triangle in the middle of Levels) — nudge it slightly left or right if the overall photo still looks too dark or too light after adjusting black and white points.
- Zoom in on the darkest and lightest areas of the photo to check you have not lost detail — for example, hair in shadow, or a white shirt in bright light, should still show some texture rather than turning into a flat block of pure black or white.
- Save your adjusted version under a new file name.
Check the photo has depth again
Compare the adjusted photo against the original — it should look noticeably richer and more three-dimensional, not just darker or lighter overall. Check the darkest and lightest spots specifically for lost detail, which is the most common side effect of pushing contrast too far.
If the haze won’t lift
If increasing contrast makes dark areas turn into solid black with no detail, or bright areas turn into solid white, you have pushed the black or white point too far — pull it back until some detail reappears. If the photo still looks flat after a reasonable contrast boost, dust or haze on the original scan itself may be contributing — see Digitise photos printed on textured or glossy paper without glare for tips on reducing glare and haze at the scanning stage.
Next step
Correct white balance in an indoor flash photo is a natural follow-up if the same photo also has a colour cast alongside the flat contrast.
Sources and date checked
Adobe Photoshop Elements Help (Levels) and Google Photos/Apple Photos Help on contrast adjustment. Checked 22 September 2026.