Scanning Tips

[mikiann]

I am just beginning on using my scanner. I would love some tips on how to be successful. I have a lot of those old small photos of my grandparents and would like to clean them up and enlarge them to display at the nursing home for them. I am just not sure of what to select in the scanning process. I have an Epson Perfection 4180 and hope that you experienced scrappers can help me out.

[moondust]

I'd like to know as well. Great question.

[imagoingirl]

In order to get the best possible image to work with, you should scan at a high resolution. 300dpi at the very least. If the pictures are quite small, I would scan at 600dpi. It will take a long time to scan the image, but you will have a better one to work with when it finally does finish!

[seebee]

Also, you can "gang scan" them. (I hate that term, though!) Put several on the scanner at once, and use Elements "Divide Scan Photos" function if need be. (I think my Epson actually divides them as part of Epson Scan, anyway.) I don't know why it didn't occur to me to do this the first few times I scanned something. But it's a time saver.

I also find scanning negatives takes longer than scanning photos, but I still do it. :)

[tzigane70]

If you plan to print them the size you are scanning than 300 dpi is the lowest you want.If they are just going to be seen on a screen be it montor or tv then 72 dpi is fine but if you want to enlarge what you scan than you need to scan at more dpi than you think you will use.so if you want to double the size 600 should do the trick but if you want to go larger than you need more dpi.we had a formula in school i will try to find it worked great for this.

[DarleneH]

Yes, it is much simpler to scan *within* PSE and keep the resolution very high (for print). As SeeBee said, you can scan multiple photos at once and then just separate them using your selection tools inside the program. In PSE version 4, you have to use File/Import and then select your scanner. Hope that helps.

[ConnieK]

Another thing that I do to get good resolution is save the file as a TIFF. It really takes ALOT of memory to do it that way, but it is better to edit because the pixels aren't compressed as they are in a JPEG.

Hope that helps.

Connie

[scrapperjlc]

The rule of thumb I kinda follow is:

If I plan on leaving the image same size (not enlarging it) I scan it at 300. A resolution of 300 is considered high resolution in the printing world. If you will want to enlarge the photo to 200 percent of its original size, you would want to scan it at 600 resolution, so that when you double its size, the resolution can be reduced to 300 without any quality loss.

Jodi

[poogie369]

Glad I stopped in here! I love learning these things! Thanks everybody!

[mikiann]

Thank you so much for the suggestions and tips. These are so helpful. Sometimes I feel so lost and just don't have the time to take classes. You are like family giving a helping hand! I appreciate it so much! Keep the tips coming!
:D

[drs75]

Just like ConnieK said, I wouldn't save the scanned images as a jpeg if you can help it, especially if you plan on making changes to the photo. The more you save a jpeg, the the worse the quality of the image gets. I like to save my images as tiff files (and I store them that way), and when I am done editing my photo, I save it as a jpeg. Don't save it as a bitmap, either.

I learned the hard way. I scanned in hundreds (I mean hundreds) of old family B&W photos. I didn't scan them in at a good enough resolution, and I saved them as either a bitmap or a jpeg. I am going to have to rescan all of them because I can't scrap with them. The image quality is so poor. That was a few years ago, and I've learned from my mistakes.

[Mary]

My experience differs just a little from what has been posted. When I scan I pay close attention to the output size also. When enlarging an image by asking for an output that is say 200% of your original you are doing the upsizing within the scanning process and you don't have to enlarge afterwards. This has given me much better prints. I use 200 dpi for anything that I want to print at close to the same size as the original. If I were going to try to get a print much larger than the original then I scan at a higher dpi. When scanning slides and negatives (they are tiny) I use up to 600 dpi but usually stay in the 300dpi range and do the upsizing to 400% during the scan.

Try doing some samples from scan to print and see what is acceptable to you. If you scan at too high a dpi you will get huge file sizes and after a couple of editing functions in PS you will get a file that can really slow down your computer. I was working on a layout and my computer kept rebooting itself. I realized that I was working on an image that had grown to 160 MB and even with 1GB of memory I was overwhelming my resources. Always save your original scan as a .psd or a .tif and treat those as your negatives and save them untouched in a safe place. Then always work on a copy of your original whether it is a scan or from your camera. :)

[pjscraps]

This is a great discussion. I have been begging and borrowing family photos for a few years now to scan into my own collection. Generally, I scan each image twice, once at 300 dpi and again at 600 dpi (unless it's big photo to start with, say 8 x 10). It is amazing how much detail the old photos have in them regardless of how small they are and the greater dpi helps bring it out. For the most part, I work on the 300 dpi. The 600 dpi will have to wait for a more powerful computer. LOL

The tip I have is to make sure that your surfaces are clean: dust, streak, and speck free. That's your scanning bed and the photo. It is so easy to forget to wipe them before scanning, but it can mean the difference between a decent image needing lots of restoration and a very nice scan needing less work. The microfiber cloths are great for this, especially the new ones for photos.

[seebee]

I also keep a microcloth handy for my scanner. Of course, the reason for this is also because I've been known to scan thing aside from photos, like candy/pencils/etc. :D

[NMarti]

Also - if you scan anything other than paper the scanner does not close tightly allowing light to "creep" in from the sides. I keep a piece of black felt that I toss over the scanner when doing 3-d objects so the light can't get in and I get a much more accurate scan. Be sure to take the cloth off after you finish though so it doesn't overheat.

[Pa Gary]

I have a Canon and it has a feature that saves a lot of time, in the Advance mode I can crop a photo prior to scanning, and it sure saves the scan Time, and I think it might save on file sizes, not sure , anyone know?

Pa gary

[troush]

Another tip that I've read - If you're having problems with moirre - it's a kind of noise pattern, try rotating the picture 90 degrees and re-scanning, and then overlay them in PSE. Or, try scanning at 45 degrees. Some of those older photos have funky textures and the light reflects funny, but if you change the angle, it works fine.

-Trish

[Sharpli]

Oh, that's a good one. I'll have to remember that. I have some 70's photos that the kids took that actually have a textured surface to them. Maybe this will make them look better. Thanks.

[indigolisa]

I usually scan at 300dp and then decide before I scan if I plan on needing it bigger. If I do, then I go ahead and scan it at 200% or 300% or whatever I think I'm going to need. It works great.

[drs75]

Here's a great website that explains in plain english about megapixels, ppi, dpi, and more.

www.design215.com (http://www.design215.com)

Look in the "toolbox" pull-down menu.

[Priss]

I really like THIS ARTICLE (http://www.scantips.com/) about scanning by Wayne Fulton.

And this one (http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/scanning/Scanning_Software_Tips_and_Help.htm)is good too --gotta get all over the place though to get all the parts to it

Good Luck--personal advice scan at 300-600 resolution and do the rest of your editing in Photoshop. Save Tiff or follow manufacturer of your scanners recommendations (which is always a rather prudent way to go! :D :D )

[kdgowdy]

here are a couple great tips I learned from a photoshop course about scanning...if you are scanning a newspaper clipping it is a good idea to put a dark peice of paper behind so the ink from the backside does not scan through! also if you are scanning old black and white photos also scan with a business card with lots of black and white contrast...scanners are looking for contrast and will scan those old pictures better! good tips I use often!

[Priss]

here are a couple great tips I learned from a photoshop course about scanning...if you are scanning a newspaper clipping it is a good idea to put a dark peice of paper behind so the ink from the backside does not scan through! also if you are scanning old black and white photos also scan with a business card with lots of black and white contrast...scanners are looking for contrast and will scan those old pictures better! good tips I use often!

Thank you so much! What wonderful tips!

[indydonna]

Does anybody have a tip for scanning 35mm Kodachrome slides? I've tried with my Epson scanner and the images are not sharp although the Kodachrome is needle sharp. I just can't afford a slide scanner. Thanks in advance for any tips that you might share.

[Priss]

Does anybody have a tip for scanning 35mm Kodachrome slides? I've tried with my Epson scanner and the images are not sharp although the Kodachrome is needle sharp. I just can't afford a slide scanner. Thanks in advance for any tips that you might share.

Really don't know how to without a slide scanner, Donna! The emulsion doesn't scan right without one. They put the light down THROUGH the slide which is in a black carrier, and not up from the bottom like the regular scan does.

[Priss]

Yes, it is much simpler to scan *within* PSE and keep the resolution very high (for print). As SeeBee said, you can scan multiple photos at once and then just separate them using your selection tools inside the program. In PSE version 4, you have to use File/Import and then select your scanner. Hope that helps.

VEry important--that feature is flawless in all versions of Photoshop.