How to Scan Photos - Tips & Recommendations

For those of you who want to scan photos, we have created a list of tips for you. Although we believe that ScanCafe's photo scanning service is the best option, we know that some of you need or would like to try scanning photos on your own. Therefore, we surveyed our top photo scan experts and came up with the following photo scanning instructions and tips.

How to Scan Photos Part 1

1. Give yourself plenty of time: Before you even start scanning, you need to buy your photo scanner and set it up properly in your home or office. That is no small feat in and of itself. Once your photo scanner is ready, it will take about 4-5 minutes per scan so if you want to scan 500-1000 photos, it is going to take you 2-3 months. From our perspective, the smart decision is to stop right here and consider the benefits of using ScanCafe's photo scanning service rather than wasting your time doing it on your own.

2. Photo scanning resolution: An important point that depends on the end goal of your scanning effort. If you want a "basic" scan for photo sharing on the internet or display on your computer, 300dpi is sufficient. However, if your intention is to archive and preserve precious memories we recommend 600dpi. Why? 600dpi allows you the option of printing your original photo at double the size since typically printing is done at 300dpi. Don't make the mistake of scanning your precious photos at 300dpi if you ever want to have the option of printing that favorite photo at a bigger size than the original.
   
   Note that we have determined the best negative scanning and slide scanning resolution to be 3000 dpi.

3. Select a scanner: See ScanCafe's top tips for selecting a photo scanner where we outline the benefits of flat bed scanners.

4. Organization: Before or after photo scanning? This is a critical decision. Most people do not have the time to go through their stacks of photos and spend time organizing them prior to scanning. We recommend a hybrid approach. Spend 20% of your time organizing your photos at a very top level (e.g.: 50s, 60s, 70s..etc). This will help in preventing complete chaos. Once you have completed the photo scanning, you will be able to "fine tune" your organization on your computer by dragging and dropping your digital files with an organization software such as Google's Picasa.

5. File naming: We recommend you use your scanner's "batch scan" mode which allows you to scan a stack of photos. Use a systematic nomenclature approach such as: Year_Event_description “2002_NewYear_Boston” or “1995_Birthday_Sam”. Choosing the correct nomenclature will simplify organization and the ability to search for your photos at a later date.

How to Scan Photos Part 2

6. Clean the scanner glass: clean the glass surface on the flatbed prior to scanning and after every 50-100 scans to ensure that the surface stays clean. Use a lint free cloth or residue free paper in a circular motion. Small specs of dust or oil stains could potentially ruin your hard work.

7. Scanner settings:

   1. Dpi: 600 (described above). Your file size will be approximately 5-7MB for an uncompressed jpeg and ~40-70 MB for a TIFF

   2. File format: If you are not a professional, we strongly recommend jpeg (uncompressed). Why? TIFF is the best option for professionals or people familiar with image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop,. This option allows you to make many edits without losing "image quality“ but is generally used only be professionals.

   3. Digital ICE: disable this feature. We recommend cleaning every photo with a lint free cloth to remove dust specs. Wipe lightly. Using digital ICE should be a last resort since it may reduce the sharpness and texture in the scan.

8. Stack your photos on one side of the scanner face up (make sure that you don't stack them near the edge of the working table…you will inadvertently knock them down and ruin your organization!). Once scanned move them to the other side and place them face down.

9. Place 2-3 photos at a time on the flat bed. Make sure there is some separation between the photos (half and inch) to enable the scanner to automatically "detect" and scan your 2-3 photos as separate files. This will greatly improve your productivity. This will save you time in cropping.

10. Hit the scan button and choose "batch scan" mode. Save the files with the recommended nomenclature.

11. Beware of the borders on the glass flatbed! Usually one corner on the bottom edge and one vertical edge have an "unscannable" region or a dark region. Make sure you know where this border begins. Some scanners will allow you to have the entire glass surface capable of scanning. If you miss this point, you might inadvertently clip the edges off your photos during scanning.

12. Finally, if your photo scans are old or damage, you can and should try photo restoration to bring out the life in each photo.