Then and now photo ideas

What makes a good then and now pair?

A subject that changes, a frame that stays the same. Faces change slowly and rooms change quickly, and a plant, a child, a street corner or a desk will show the difference. The two shots should match closely enough in angle and distance that the eye sees only the change.

Take the first shot as if you were doing it for a stranger who has to re-create it. That one thought fixes most of the problems.

Which subjects are worth shooting?

• Yourself in the same spot and outfit style.
• A child next to the same door frame.
• Your desk or workspace from above.
• The view from your window.
• A pet on the same sofa.
• A plant in the same pot.
• Your street or your building entrance.
• A bookshelf as it looks today.
• The fridge door.
• Your home screen as a screenshot.
• A friend group in the same pose.
• A garden bed in the same month.
• A kitchen counter at breakfast.
• A corner of a flat before and after a repaint.
• A walking route at the same time of day.
• The coffee you order, in the same cup.
• A team in front of a sign.
• A kid's drawing, a year apart.
• A parent's hands, with permission.
• A close-up of a pair of shoes.

How do I take the first photo so the second matches?

1. Choose a spot and note it: a mark on the floor or a landmark behind you.
2. Hold the phone at the same height each time. Chest height or on a shelf works well.
3. Use the same orientation, portrait or landscape.
4. Take the shot in similar light, ideally the same time of day.
5. Leave the grid lines on, if you use them, so you can align edges.
6. Write a line about the spot in your capsule letter: "Standing by the kettle, window on my left".

How does Sealday pair them?

When you build a capsule, you can add a then photo, taken with the camera or chosen from your library. On open day Sealday asks for a now photo and builds a split card with both dates. The card is one of the share pictures the app makes, with the seal card, the opening card and the scorecard.

Photos go through the system picker, so the app only sees the pictures you choose. The camera is used only when you take a photo for a capsule. Free capsules hold one photo, and Plus raises the limit to 30. The details are on the letters, photos and voice page.

What goes with the photo?

A short caption turns a picture into a record. Add the date, the place and one line about what is going on. A voice note of ten seconds recording the sound of the room goes well with the photo. Add one guess about what will have changed: "The plant will have outgrown the pot", "The shelf will have been repainted".

On open day, mark the guess Called it, Kind of or Missed, then share the split card if you want. You can hide any guess before sharing.

What if I cannot re-create the shot?

Sometimes you cannot. The building is gone, the room has changed or the person has moved away. Take the second photo anyway, and add a line about what changed. A mismatched pair is still a record, and the difference is a story in itself.

If the photo matters, export a vault file after sealing so it survives a lost phone. See backup and restore.

What are some uses beyond selfies?

Then and now works well for projects. A renovation, a garden, a pet's first year, a new business sign, a child's drawings. Seal the first picture on day one of the project, and the final comparison arrives with its own timestamp. It also works for a group: the same people, the same pose, at the next reunion.

The best pairs tell a story without a caption. The second-best ones have a caption that makes the picture work. Write one either way, because you will forget the context faster than you expect.

Is there a trend I should know about?

The ten-year challenge is a recurring social media format where people post a photo from ten years ago next to a current one. It is a fun idea, but you rarely have a ten-year-old photo of the same subject in the same frame. A sealed then photo solves that problem for the next decade. Start one now and your future self gets the version done properly.