How2 Scan Photos

[updated and reposted from 8-24-08, new information/notes are in bold purple italics]

One of the wonderful things that computers can do for us, is to help us organize and preserve our old documents and photos. But, because today's home scanners offer higher resolutions and finer quality scans than ever before, their output produces really huge files that can quickly grab all your disk space.

Naturally, most of us think "bigger is better,"

or "higher quality" is better, but in the world of scanning and archiving, it is important to consider the purpose of the image scan, so that we don't "go overboard," scan documents at a higher than necessary level, and then run into expensive storage needs. Storing images in some external storage device (CD-Rom, DVD, external hard drive, etc.) is a good solution to keeping your working hard drives free of large sized scanned documents. Here are some things to consider when scanning your documents and photos.

• If you intend to print a regular-size (4- by 6-inch or 5- by 7-inch) photo or a fairly good quality document, then a 300-dpi scan set at 100% size will give you as much detail as you need. Even with a high-resolution color ink-jet printer on quality photo paper, the results you will see between a 300-dpi scan of the image and a 600-dpi scan are indistinguishable as long as you print the image the same size as the scanned original.
• If you scan a photo or document to send via e-mail to a friend or to post it on the Web, it might be best to consider a 72- or 100-dpi scan at 100% size. This file will take up less memory and therefore it will be uploaded and downloaded faster in an email. Your recipient's modem speed might be so slow that it would take them hours to download a larger file. Also, some ISPs will block large file attachments via email. You might want to make sure, too, that the scanned image is no larger than 5" wide, or else it will not fit on the computer screen without having to scroll side to side. [Now a days, with cable connections and such the size of photos being sent by email is not as restrictive. So if you have a cable, DSL or satellite connection higher [300 to 1000 dpi] quality at 100% is better.]
• If you scan a photo or document and you'll plan on enlarging it to print it, then you should use the maximum resolution at 100% size [especially if its a small picture]. This way, you not lose any of the detail when you enlarge it. But, keep in mind that this could be a very large file - perhaps as large as 18 megabytes! So, this would likely be a file that you'd want to immediately burn to CD-Rom, rather than store on your working hard drive.
• If you intend to save this document or photo for posterity consider scanning the document at a high resolution (600-1000 dpi) and 100% size. As with the "print" resolution option, above, you will want to burn this image to a CD or save it to a large external drive, too. You might consider editing the document and adding a white margin below the document and placing a caption that either states the document's origin source citation or the case of photos, the name(s) of the subject(s) and the approximate date of the photo. Consult your graphics editing software to learn how to caption a document.

A note about graphics editing software: Most of us use software that either comes with our camera or with our scanner, but you have other choices. This important for several reasons:

• Virtually all software will save pictures in their ‘native’ format. Unlike the formats listed in the next section the native format is one that usually can only be read/opened/edited by the software used. This is especially true of software that comes with our scanners, cameras, and computers. The problem with this is threefold:

1. You can’t share your pictures with anyone unless they have the same software without changing the formats [see below]
2. When you upgrade your scanners, cameras, or computers you will usually obtain new software that won’t read your pictures. If the new items is by a different manufacturer, or has an upgraded operating system, the old software may be unusable.
3. Most software will save pictures in their native format at a higher quality than the preferred formats listed below. This is to encourage you to buy the same brand/software.

• You should consider purchasing/obtaining software independent of you camera/scanner’s make or model. Look for the formats supported they should at least support tiff, jpg, gif and bmp.
• You do not have to go expensive. If you buy expensive software you will have to buy expensive upgrades over the long haul, plus you have to worry about their longevity. This is why looking at the industry supported formats is so important. Their are big names out there for big bucks, but there is also what’s called ‘open source’ software available which both emulates the pricy software as well as sometimes leading the way on new features. This software is usually free, supported by web users and is constantly being upgraded by the web community itself. When you download the software there is usually a donate option to the community, but in true open source you are seldom required to give. You can return to that option at a later date after you’ve become satisfied. One good open source software for pictures and graphics is paint.net . I’ve been using them for years and since it is easily downloaded and always current whenever I get a new camera or computer I just download the latest version,FREE, and I’m good to go.

When saving your documents as images, there are several choices for file formats. The below three are some of the most popular and will likely still be around in the next 10 years:

1. Bitmap (.bmp) is the default image format for the pre-XP Windows operating system. It will provide saved images of high quality.
2. Tagged Image File Format (.tiff) is also very detailed, and unlike the bitmap file format, it’s supported across most operating systems, including Mac.
3. The Joint Photographic Experts Group (.jpeg) format compresses the data somewhat, but is generally sufficient for most uses. This is a "lossy" format, meaning that some data is lost when saving to the .jpeg format. You can set most photo scanning and editing software to save .jpeg files at the least lossy setting.

considering recent trends I always suggest saving three images of every picture:

1. One in the ‘native’ format if there is one.
2. One in jpg
3. One in tiff.

For More Information

• Getting Started Scanning (About.com)
• Preserving photos on DVD (Hewlett Packard Site)