Just because a scanning service offers photograph scanning at 600 or 1200 dpi doesn't mean it translates into a better quality scan. What it usually means is higher profits for the photo scanner and a misunderstanding of scanning resolution issues on the part of the buyer. Paying extra money to scan your typical photos at higher than 300 dpi is a waste of money.
Most people have not thought about the fact that a photograph's surface was not designed to reproduce an image like a negative is. So scanning a negative to enlarge a photograph makes sense, but a photo's surface does not have enough resolution.
Wasting money is not the only reason to scan at 300 dpi. Photo scanning beyond 300 dpi produces huge files that slow down just about any use of your scans. Editing, viewing, and working with your files will be slower, and possibly much slower. And you will probably have to change the size of your scan smaller to use it for just about anything.
If you are a professional photographer or someone with a great deal of expertise in photography and photo scanning then you have already developed an understanding of what your particular needs are. If you are not well versed in photo scanning and are just looking to scan your typical photographs then you need to check out Wayne Fultons excellent article on this and other scanning topics at www.scantips.com.
Most respectable photo scanning services will save your scans as a high quality jpeg. This is the most popular format. Jpeg files that are highly compressed to produce smaller files loose bits of information and can reduce the quality of your photos. High quality jpegs are compressed very little and lose very little information. You can reduce the file size later as required.
Scanning services usually require that your photos arrive in stacks without regard to their orientation. After scanning, when your portrait photos need to be turned upright, make sure you dont rotate your master scans. Always leave your master scans intact and use copies of them to rotate. Any kind of manipulation recompresses your files and can cause quality loss.
Some photo scanning services offer automatic photo enhancement. What you need to know is enhancement, or any manipulation, can cause jpeg files to be re-compressed and cause some quality loss. Make sure your scanning service provides you with a complete set of master scans and then a copy of them for the enhancements. Don't ever use the originals to make changes. Always use a copy. You may find that you want to work on special photos yourself. When you do, always start with a fresh copy of the master scan.
If your photo scanning service offers inexpensive automatic photo enhancement it might be wise to take advantage of it. Even though there are lots of good free photo editing software out there it can be extremely time consuming and boring. So let the photo scanner run your photos through the automatic enhancement program especially if this is a low cost service, and save the manual improvement for a few really special photographs. You can also purchase automatic enhancement software, but trying to figure which ones actually work can be a daunting task.
Most people have not thought about the fact that a photograph's surface was not designed to reproduce an image like a negative is. So scanning a negative to enlarge a photograph makes sense, but a photo's surface does not have enough resolution.
Wasting money is not the only reason to scan at 300 dpi. Photo scanning beyond 300 dpi produces huge files that slow down just about any use of your scans. Editing, viewing, and working with your files will be slower, and possibly much slower. And you will probably have to change the size of your scan smaller to use it for just about anything.
If you are a professional photographer or someone with a great deal of expertise in photography and photo scanning then you have already developed an understanding of what your particular needs are. If you are not well versed in photo scanning and are just looking to scan your typical photographs then you need to check out Wayne Fultons excellent article on this and other scanning topics at www.scantips.com.
Most respectable photo scanning services will save your scans as a high quality jpeg. This is the most popular format. Jpeg files that are highly compressed to produce smaller files loose bits of information and can reduce the quality of your photos. High quality jpegs are compressed very little and lose very little information. You can reduce the file size later as required.
Scanning services usually require that your photos arrive in stacks without regard to their orientation. After scanning, when your portrait photos need to be turned upright, make sure you dont rotate your master scans. Always leave your master scans intact and use copies of them to rotate. Any kind of manipulation recompresses your files and can cause quality loss.
Some photo scanning services offer automatic photo enhancement. What you need to know is enhancement, or any manipulation, can cause jpeg files to be re-compressed and cause some quality loss. Make sure your scanning service provides you with a complete set of master scans and then a copy of them for the enhancements. Don't ever use the originals to make changes. Always use a copy. You may find that you want to work on special photos yourself. When you do, always start with a fresh copy of the master scan.
If your photo scanning service offers inexpensive automatic photo enhancement it might be wise to take advantage of it. Even though there are lots of good free photo editing software out there it can be extremely time consuming and boring. So let the photo scanner run your photos through the automatic enhancement program especially if this is a low cost service, and save the manual improvement for a few really special photographs. You can also purchase automatic enhancement software, but trying to figure which ones actually work can be a daunting task.
About the Author:
If your family's precious photographic memories have not been permanently preserved then you need to find out more about photo scanning . Pete Fontaine provides more helpful information at his web page www.nickelscan.com
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