Taking photos, for some people, is daily activity. This is especially true for new moms and dads. They love taking pictures of their babies, every minute, if they can help it. These pictures are of sentimental value and they will go to any lengths to protect them.
Most people today have digital cameras and don’t have to worry about loss so much. But most of us still have photos from years ago tucked away or get our children’s annual school portrait in print form. So how can you best protect these items so you will have them forever?
Scanning is one option for preservation. Even if the original photograph is lost or damaged, you have the assurance of knowing that there is one saved on your PC or hard drive or where ever it is. If you have a scanner but don't know where to begin, there are a few tips on scanning photos below to help you get started.
JPEG is the file format that is more popularly used to save pictures. It can be uploaded onto sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. The quality is good if you only intend on emailing the pictures or using it on the computer. When it comes to printing out the photos though, some of the good quality is lost. It is not very noticeable, but for someone with a eye for detail, it can be spotted easily.
The TIFF format is an alternative to JPEG and is the recommended format for printing, editing, or restoration work. The reason why is because you have the option of emailing the pictures or printing them out. Either way, the quality remains intact. Some consider this a better alternative but the large file size may be a problem for others.
Picture quality can vary from person to person, or scanner to scanner. You need to fine tune certain settings on the scanner to achieve the desired result.
A photo scanner will come with a software CD that shows you how to do this along with many other things on the scanner. You may need to adjust the settings for resolution, output type and the sharpening options for one.
Scan more than one picture at a time. This will save you time and also the extra effort. Most of the scanners today give you the option of scanning around four to six pictures at a time. This feature is handy for scanning hundreds of photos or just a few.
If you only require a specific part of the picture, then you should crop the picture before the scan. This is useful if you just want the face on the photo and not the whole full length of it. The cropping can also be done after the scan process, but it is better to do it before.
The latest photo scanners are usually able to scan negatives in addition to prints. This is a very useful and innovative part of the process and not much harder than scanning a photo.
If you have both negatives and prints of the same photo, opt for scanning the negatives if they are in good condition. You will get a much better image by scanning the negative than scanning the photo print because the negative is the original while the print is a copy.
These are just a few tips to help you get started with photo scanning. But the best tip of all is to just take a little time and do a few practice runs. Creating the perfect image isn’t terribly difficult if you just take the time to optimize your settings and get familiar with the scanning process.