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Photo Scanning Tips
By Robert Vincent
If you're like me, you've probably got a lot of photos in albums and boxes and you plan to digitize them at some point. Here are some tips that I hope will make it a bit easier to tackle a fairly big job. If you can afford it, pay someone to do the scanning for you. That's the easiest way but there are a couple of drawbacks. The first, and to me the most important, is that you have little or no control over what the pictures will look like after they're scanned. You can give the technicians instructions but the pictures may not come out how you wanted them to. That and there's the expense of the whole thing. If you can't afford to pay someone, then you will be doing it yourself. Scanning your family photos can be a big job and can be time consuming but it will be worth it in the end. So, what to do next. First, get a scanner. A good quality flat bed scanner can be purchased for about $500 or so. This will be sufficient for most folks. Make sure it has a high enough scan capability and can scan both prints and transparencies. Most scanners today can handle both. If you can spend the cash, get a drum scanner. These can make even higher resolution scans and are used by professionals. Okay, you've got your scanner. What now? Start by connecting your scanner to your computer and installing the software according to the manufacturer's instructions. Each manufacturer is different so follow the instructions carefully. Image editing software is also a necessity. There are several out there and they are aimed at different users. Most people will find Photoshop Elements to be more than sufficient to tweak your photos the way you want. It's relatively inexpensive and easy to use. If you're like me and want a bit more flexibility and options, then get the full on version of Photoshop. The newest version is out and according to all the reviews I've read, they've made it easier to use. Yea! Photoshop has been notorious for a steep learning curve and it seems Adobe finally listened. Getting your photos, slides or negatives ready to scan is pretty simple. Load them in the film holders as per instructions or lay out which photos you want to scan. Before you turn on the scanner, make sure the glass is clean and free of dust, dirt, fingerprints, etc. Use a quality glass cleaner and a microfiber cloth (available at any auto parts store) instead of paper towels. Paper towels leave a ton of lint behind and kind of defeat the purpose of cleaning the thing. Also, a can of compressed gas to blow away any stray dust (available at camera shops) is also a good idea. Once your scanner is clean, turn it on and get your negatives or pictures ready. Use the compressed gas to blow off any dust on the negatives or prints. Wiping them with an anti-static cloth (also available at camera and photo stores) will help ensure a clean scan. The anti-static cloth also gets rid of any static charge that the plastic film has picked up. Next lay the negatives or print(s) on the scanner and scan them following the sequence in the scanning software. Once you've scanned your picture(s), it'll ask you where you want to save them. Your best bet is to create a folder just for them. Add any sub-folders if you want to group them by subject. Save them and then continue scanning. Once you've scanned your pictures, make sure you make a back up copy of the files somewhere. Either save them on a disc or on an external drive. Don't risk losing all that work just because your hard drive decides to take a vacation. Open up your image editing software and adjust your pictures until you're happy with how they look. Save them in whatever file format you wish, although I personally like the PNG format since it doesn't lose data every time you re-save for whatever reason. If you plan to upload to an online album, you probably will need to save JPEG copies as well. Check with your online photo site for more information. They'll let you know file size limits and their preferred (or required) file format. Again, once you're done tweaking and adjusting your photos, BACK THEM UP! I know I'm repeating myself but I've heard (as I'm sure you have), horror stories of people losing all their work because they didn't back up their photos. Make copies of the finished pictures to disc as well since they are good for long term storage. There are archival quality discs available and they're worth the extra money. I hope these tips will help you when you're getting ready to scan in your family pictures. |
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The copyright for this content entitled "Photo Scanning Tips" has been specified by the contributor as:
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This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
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This intel was contributed by photo35
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May, 2012
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