This entry contains a few lessons I have learned (some the hard way) for getting good images from flat bed scanners.
First a warning. If you are working with Tin Types, very old photos where the picture appears to be on a piece of of metal or tin, do not do any cleaning or repairs listed here. I don’t even know if it is safe to scan them. Any pressure you put on the metal may cause the image to separate from the metal. Consider taking photos of Tin Types.
Furthermore, if you are uncomfortable with doing anything in here, then don’t do it. Or hire a professional to do it. Or, practice first on something you don’t care about. You can find old pictures to practice on at flea markets and second hand stores.
Obviously, anything you do here, you do at your own risk.
My favorite scanner:
I use an Epson 4990 and an Epson V750. With either:
- You can bulk scan negatives, slides, and prints.
- Prints can be positioned in any orientation on the scanner bed and they will be “straightened”. This comes in handy for dealing with creases, see below.
- Multiple prints can be placed on the bed and multiple scan files will be created.
- It comes with negative carriers for 35mm (24), 120mm (4), 4×5 (2), and 8×10 (1), as well as a carrier for slide scanning (16). The number in parenthesis is the number of negative images that fit into the carrier at a time.
- You can also batch scan odd sized negatives (i.e. those old 110 or instamatic negs) by taping them down to the scanner bed with low stick tape.
Resolution and scanner settings:
- Configure the scanner options to save in a lossless format, i.e. for jpg set the compression to 0.
- If your scans will be used to make photographic prints, then you want to scan such that the final print will have at least 300 dots per inch (DPI). For example, to make an 8″ x 10″ blow up of a 4″ x 5″ original print, you want the final scan to have 8*300 x 10*300 or 2400 x 3000 pixels. Dividing by the originals dimensions: 2400/4 = 600 and 3000/5 = 600. So set the scanner resolution to 600 dpi. If you are scanning pictures with a border, then you will probably be cropping that off, so remember to decrease the original’s dimensions by that amount before dividing to account for that.
- If you are scanning for the web only, then you should scan for 72 DPI, which is the resolution of most monitors.
- If you are scanning for most laser jet printers, then 160 DPI is probably fine.
- The safest bet is to scan all prints at a resolution for making photos and later make low resolution copies with a tool such as irfanview (free). irfanview will do bulk processing of directories of photos pretty quickly.
- Sharpening: If you’re planning on editing the final image in photo shop, then don’t have the scanner software sharpen the image, but do it in photo shop.
Organization:
If you have many photos and negatives to scan, loose and in albums, then it will be helpful to take some time to create a plan and to organize them first before starting to scan.
- File Structure: Consider logical folder names to use for the images. Scanner options usually allow you to choose the base part of the filename. And to set the starting number. Perhaps use a structure similar to:
- scans/
- Jones-Wilson Family/
- PuertoRico 1996 Album/
- Jones-Wilson_PuertoRico_1996_001.jpg
- Jones-Wilson_PuertoRico_1996_002.jpg
- Jones-Wilson_PuertoRico_1996_003.jpg
- WeddingPictures 1996 Album/
- HoneymoonPictures 1997 Negs/
- Grandma Wilson Frame 1/
- PuertoRico 1996 Album/
- Jones-Wilson Family/
- scans/
- Pre-sorting: If you have a lot of loose photos and snapshots, consider sorting them into album groups that makes sense. Then sort each album group, perhaps by date/time, or by some other order, if that’s important. Otherwise sort them by scan resolution and size to make scanning more efficient. Remember, most scanner software appends a sequential number to the scans, so if ordering is important, and you don’t want to have to rename the files after, then it’s probably best to get the pictures in the correct order first.
Cleanliness:
This is very important. If you don’t get this right, then you spend much time cleaning up scans in photo shop. If you rely on automatic dust removal in software, then you end up with blurry images.
- Wear cotton gloves. The thin kind you buy at Walgreens pharmacy. This keeps oil and dirt from your fingers off the scanner bed and photos and helps keep dust under control.
- Clean your cotton gloves with a lint roller between scans to reduce dust and lint.
- Quickly clean the scanner bed with the cotton gloves between scans.
- When doing a thorough clean of the scanner bed, never spray cleaner directly on the bed, put small amounts on a clean cotton rag. Always wipe in the direction that the scanner bar travels, never across. This way, if any small scratches are created, they will be perpendicular to the light bar. Scratches parallel to the light bar are more visible in the final images than those perpendicular.
- Replace the gloves when they get dirty.
- Old paste, glue, and rubber cement can be removed from the backs of photos by gently scraping them with a single edge razor blade. This is not slicing but moving the blade sideways, holding the blade perpendicular to the surface.
- If you have a whole album to scan, consider cleaning and repairing (see below) all the pictures first before starting any scanning. This helps cut down on accidentally contaminating your scan environment.
- Post-it notes can be used to clean dust and dirt from the fronts and backs of photos, but be very gentle on the fronts if the pictures are old. Gently test on an inconspicuous spot first.
- Use post-its to cover rubber cement on the backs of photos and thus keep the scanner lid from getting contaminated with the old glue.
- To pick up or move photos on the scanner bed, use a clean index card.
- You can find old pictures to practice on at second hand stores or flea markets.
Repairs:
- If a picture has a crease in it, align the crease so that it runs along the direction the scanner bar moves or is perpendicular to the scanner bar. This reduces the glare and shadow caused by the scanner’s lighting element as it doesn’t have to crosses the crease.
- If a picture has multiple creases in many directions, consider scanning it multiple times in different orientations and recombining the images in photoshop.
- You can gently flatten creases in photos by placing photos face down on a piece of paper on hard surface such as a table and coaxing it flat with a marble gently rubbed along the seam.
- Sometimes the scanner can not accurately find the edge of the print. Use post-its that are stuck to the back but extend out approx 1/8 inch along the edge to fool the scanner into finding an edge.
- Some loose dirt can be removed by very very lightly rubbing with a dry cotton swab, but rubbing to hard may scratch or remove silver from old prints.
- Before doing and major physical work on a photo, scan it in so there is always a backup in case you destroy it.
- Post-it notes can be used to temporarily repair rips and to protect creases from ripping.
- Be sure to check out flea markets and second hand stores where you can find old pictures to practice on.
Extreme Repairs:
- Photos stuck together, or paper stuck to photos can be separated or removed by soaking in water. Soaking too long can damage the emulsion and cause reticulation (looks like cracked earth). Soaking not long enough can cause the picture to rip. You might want to practice this on something you don’t care about first.
- I have heard of people repairing badly faded pictures by bleaching them and redeveloping them in the dark room. I may try this someday on something I don’t care about destroying.
- Getting a print wet or soaking it seems like a scary thing, but if you think about it, photographic prints start out life (after exposure) in a wet development, stop, fix, and wash, and finally they are dried.
- Did I mention that you should practice this stuff on old pictures you might find at a flea markets or second hand stores?
Here are some links to scanning howto sites and data:
- scantips.com A general howto scanning site with intros on scanners, scanning, and image tools such as photoshop.
- silverfast.com A silverfast make driver software for many scanners.
- scannerforum.com Technical data on scanner resolution and Dmax.
Randy Viosca
Scanning tips and links.