How to Scan Photos

Place the image to be scanned. Place the document face down on the printer or scanner surface. Align the image according to the arrow or iron bar on the device. Close the lid (if applicable). Press the scan button on the scanner or use a scan program on your computer.

Select scan options. You will have the option of scanning in color, black and white, gray or custom. You can also choose a digital format (jpg, jpeg or tiff) if you want to save the image.

Select to preview. When you click on the preview, you’ll be able to preview your selection and make the necessary changes to the setup before proceeding. Use the preview to decide on the type of format, orientation, and resolution. The “Orientation” option allows the user to choose portrait or landscape orientation, and the “Respution” helps determine the sharpness of the image.

• The higher the resolution, the clearer the details in the image. To make the image clearer, you can increase the resolution. Note: this will also increase the image size and file size significantly. You won’t be able to send photos as email attachments without first reducing the image size. Resolutions above 300 dpi are not required.

Click “Finish” or “Scan”. Once you’ve selected the settings you want in the preview, click “Finish” or “Scan” to continue with the process. The name of the task depends on the program, maybe even a different word.

Use the built-in program to guide you through the process. Follow the instructions of the Scan Wizard or other built-in program if you are still having trouble. The Wizard will guide you step-by-step on how to copy images from your scanner to your computer or the web.

Save Image. Some programs will automatically cache the image on the program itself, but for most software you need to save the image somewhere on your computer or upload the file directly online. Find and click the save button, or use the prompt that appears. Then save the photo to a location that you can manage.

• You don’t have to worry about renaming each photo. With a large number of images this will be very time consuming!

Invest time. If you want your photos to look really good when scanned, you need to use some special tricks, but the most important thing is that you take the time to work on the project. Each photo needs to be scanned and edited individually, so don’t save time by scanning them all at once if you want your photos to look really good. ^[1]

Scan the original film if possible. If possible, you should scan the original film using a film scanner for higher image quality. Film scanners are not too expensive, if you have a lot of photos to store then this is the right choice.

Do not rotate the image on the scan program. When you rotate the image in the preview window of the scan program (or even rotate the image in the image editing software afterwards), the image quality will be somewhat lost. Please scan the image in the correct orientation when starting to preserve the image quality.

Scan in 24-bit mode. In the list of options including black and white scan, color scan, and so on, you will sometimes see a 24-bit scan option. This is the best option in terms of scan quality and should be chosen whenever possible. ^[2]

Customizable levels and saturation. If your scanning program has options to adjust the level and saturation before scanning, take advantage. Customizing these aspects in an image editing program can then damage and lose a lot of image detail. The level and saturation settings will change the color and lightness/darkness on the image, which helps you to restore blurred photos.

If you’re scanning to make extra large prints and the huge file size isn’t a problem, save as tiff. If you want lighter files, save them as png or jpg (or jpeg).