How to Scan a Photo

It’s a great idea to scan your old photo’s you have sitting in boxes gathering dust. Not only does this provide a fantastic backup, (remember to also store your digital images to the cloud via Dropbox etc) it also gives you an opportunity to check for any damaged photo’s that may need repair.

It also makes for a fantastic gift idea to those family members featured in the photo’s. These days you can buy a great scanner for around $150-$200, or you can get your photo’s professionally scanned by many Photo printing stores or online services. If you urgently need a copy don’t forget you can just snap away with your digital camera – however this would be a poor choice if photo restoration is needed.

Your scanner should have included software to help you with the scanning process. My Canon scanner software looks like this in my Start Menu.

Scans can be done at different resolutions, 300 dpi is often recommended for photo archiving or images destined to be printed. The higher the resolution, the finer the detail captured. The trade-off in inceasing the DPI, is increased filesize.

Check your Scanner software to see what extras are included. It may have a built-in ability to correct images. In my case, the Canon Lide 210 can reduce scratches/dust, correct fade colors, grain and backlight and perform image sharpening.

Here are some examples from the Canon’s manual:

So you can see it is possible to correct some common problems using just the included software. For more complex issues, you can use Photoshop or ask for professional help.

I can scan your Photo’s onto DVD and optionally upload to your Dropbox account (If you don’t have one I create one for you). A slideshow of your favorite’s is a great way to show your precious memories to friends and families. This can be set to music and made into a mini-movie that you can show online.

An animated family-tree is a unique way to show your families Genealogy and sure beats the slideshows of yesteryear.

Photo Scan Prices