Thoughts on Scanning??

[Debb Cozzi]

I started paper-scrapping when my oldest son was a toddler. I did a pretty good job of keeping up on things until about the year 2000. That was the year that we lost my father, father-in-law and grandmother. It was a HARD year! Anyway, I quit scrapping for a couple of years after that. Then, when I did start back up again my hubby had given me my first digital camera and I started digi-scrapping with all of my current photos. But I've also got boxes of photos from those 'lost years' that I've got to catch up on!! (Especially since they were those oh so cute years when my two youngest son's were babies and toddlers.)

So....I've got to start scanning them and putting together some layouts. However, today as I started scanning I was not at all happy with the results. I have an Epson 1650 scanner that has served me well in the past but I don't know...these photos are just not looking good. Do scanners go bad? If I do need to go out and get a new scanner does anybody have any recommendations?

[Amy Eileen]

My family and friends ALWAYS call me about advice on printers, scanners, etc., and they believe me to be lying when I say I know nothing about them. It is SO true though. I know VERY little. All I can say is, what dpi are you scanning them at? I know 300 is for printing but we usually do 400 at least for photo scanning at my house.


Also, just a edit tip. You can sharpen your photos in PS very quickly and simply. Just go to Filter, Sharpen, Unsharp Mask. Choose Amount 20, Radius 60 and Threshold 0. It will take a bit of the 'fog' off the photos for you.

What are the scanned photos looking like, Debb? The scanner may be dusty/dirty, or it may be the light source. Fortunately, you can do a lot with PS to fix them. I made the mistake of scanning a bunch of photos at 200 dpi, and although I can't enlarge them much, I can still play with them and enhance them in PS.

And of course so many photos from the 70s and 80s have changed casts - a lot of them have either a yellow cast or a blue cast. We can fix that with our photo editors.

[twinkerbell]

I don't know about scanners either but I believe that you can take negatives into some photo developing places and have them put the photos on a CD for you. I'm not completely sure about this but it is something I want to look into for my photos as well.

[Amson]

You can get a better result if you scan the positive or negative with a specialised scanner. Scanning of prints gives the worst result possible but if you do not have source, best to scan at as high a dpi as possible and work on the image in your photo editing software.

[sunshine]

The best results I have had have been with scanning the negatives....after I located the negatives and figured out how to load the little negative tray thing. My scanner can scan at a much higher resolution on the negatives than the prints....in fact, I don't scan at the highest resolution the scanner is capable of because I can't fit the scans on my hard drive and I don't want to wait an hour to scan a few photos (that weren't necessarily that good in the first place).

[Canay]

Right now I am opposed to the idea of scanning in my older photos. I'm thinking of paper scrapping them. Or making a digital layout and leaving a space for the photo and then adhering the photo to the space. Or....maybe just put them in photo albums. I'm really undecided on this whole issue so I do nothing.

[Bek, aka opeysmama]

Debb I hate the results when I scan in photos! I have not found any way to make them look good. I know nothing about scanners, either. I have an HP all in one and I know its not top of the line or anything. I am probably going to paper scrap all my older photos digitally, meaning do the layout digitally, then secure the photos on the digi layout. Hybrid if you will...but not do any embellies or anything hybrid. Make sense?

If anyone finds info on quality of scanners, etc. I'd be very interested in it as well.

I have a Canon that I like - don't remember the model number.

An advantage to scanning photos - do you have photos from the 70's - see how they have changed casts (film in the 70s was especially bad at this), the photo is continually degrading. By scanning, you stop the degradation process - at least on the scanned image - and you can take the opportunity to make repairs. I have scanned turn of the century photos and fixed cracks and tears in PSP and PS.

[sunshine]

I have an older model Epson Perfection scanner which I like quite a lot. I bought it for around $150 or so and it scans paper as well as negatives. I'm pretty sure you can get what I have now (or better) for around half what I paid 3 years ago....but such is the world of technology. I do wish I had gotten the auto-loader though...if you are doing a large project taking negatives out and putting new ones in takes a long time.