Photo Scanning Tips

In order to obtain good results when restoring old photos it's critical that you start with a good quality scan. Most scanners should be able to provide a good scan copy if set up correctly before scanning. Since most default to basic settings unsuitable for scanning photographs, some settings adjustments will be necessary. This tutorial is designed to help you make the necessary scanner modes adjustments in order to obtain good quality photo scans.

We are using screen shots of the Epson scanner preview windows for illustration purposes, however, most scanner manufacturers use a similar setup. Use the screen shots to assist you in making the necessary adjustments and selecting only the photo and not the entire scanner surface.

The first step is to place the photo on the scanner's glass surface face down and turn on the power.

When you run the software that operates your scanner you should see a preview window similar to Figure 1 below.

If you click on the "Preview" button the scanner will take a quick scan of the photo and produce a preview in the large panel on the right side.

Figure 1                                                                              

(click images for larger views)

The next step is to change the default scanner modes settings so that they are appropriate for scanning photos.  

Basically you want to: 

• Change the "DPI" or "Resolution" to 300
• Change the "Image Type" to Color Photo, True Color, Millions Of Colors, etc. (even for black and white photos).
• Don't make enhancements.
• If you see a "Reset Button" for enhancement options click it to reset the settings. Check to make sure that this does not change other settings (DPI etc.).
• "Sharpen" and "Digital Ice" should be turned off if available (no check mark showing).
• If you see a section that allows you to choose the file type that the image will be saved to, choose high quality jpeg.

 
Next

Once you have followed the instructions above and selected only the photo, click the "Preview" button again so that you produce a new preview scan of just your photo. You can make further adjustments if there is still too much white space around the photo.

Once you are happy with the selection, press the "Scan" button in order to make the final scan utilizing all of the new setting that you have chosen.

Make note of where the file will be saved so that you can find it later. 

Image Master  info@imphotorestoration.com