A couple of questions

[dachsie02]

I am wanting to start scanning in older photos and I have heard to use 300 dpi or even 600dpi. What is your advice on this and do I worry about a size? liek a 4x6 or a 5x7 or does it just do what it wants?

Also How do you all organize your Photos? I have lightroom but I really don't know how to use it very well. It seems really intimidating. I am able to import but then I dont know how to get them back out or how to protect the orginals so i don't copy over it if I play with the presets.

I would like to get them organized so I can start scapping

Thank you for any advice that you share. You all are very good at creating and inspiring me.

[Cassie Jones (1gr8muggle)]

Hi, dachsie . . .

I have yet to conquer Lightroom. I always tend to learn enough to function, and then just go with it. When I import my photos to LR, I have them saved to a location on my EHD. When I edit in LR, it's not actually altering the originals that are on the HD. I edit in LR and export from there to PS to use the picture on a page. Again, this is not altering the original on the HD. I backup those originals every week. I also back up my LR database weekly. Check out Matt Kloskowski's Killer Lightroom Tips blog for tons of information on how to use the program efficiently.

As for scanning, I will really just leave that to someone with more experience in that area. I do know that you want at LEAST the 300 dpi. Scanning at a higher resolution will allow you to crop the photo or enlarge it without losing quality as quickly.

I'm glad you've found the forum and look forward to hearing more from you!

Now . . . get to scrapping!! That's the important part!

[digigrandma]

I use the Canon Pixma MP610 for scanning old photos. (purchased in January '08) It seems to automatically scan photos at a high resolution so I never give it a thought. I just follow the directions for scanning and I've been really pleased with the quality.

[cheekymonkey]

I'm no scanning expert, but here is what I do:
I scan old photos anywhere from 400 to 600 dpi, depending the original size and on what I want to do with them (crop, enlarge, color correction, etc). I can always adjust the size in my photo editing software later if and when I need to.

And don't wait to be totally organized before scrapping! If I did that I would never have started! Can't wait to see your work in the gallery!

[Lynn Grieveson]

I sometimes can even higher than that - up to 1000 dpi.

As for organising, I have my own system of files on my computer. As I download each time off my camera I create a new sub-folder in my "photos to be scrapped" (I am up to 2008-10 right now!) and I also copy the photos to disk and print off a contact sheet which I keep in a binder.

[AbbyG]

I took a Scanning and Restoration course a couple of weeks ago, and this was the first thing that they taught us. How to calculate the scanning resolution for the desired print size. This was the formula they gave us:

Desired Print Height/Height of the Original (in inches) X Printing Resolution

For example if you had a 35 mm neg and you wished to print it at 8 x 10 your calculation would look something like:

8 in / 0.95 in x 300 ppi = 3032 ppi And then you round up to the nearest 100 so in this case you would scan at 3100 ppi

that way you are getting your best quality for print while not creating unnecessarily huge files.

Good luck and happy scanning!!

[justmp]

I usually scan my 4x6s at 600 dpi. I don't know if that's the best way, but it's worked for me and gives me a little room to crop, etc.

My photos are organized by year, then month, then date and event. It works for me. When I edit a photo, it stays with the original in the same location, I just add "enh" on the end of the name or "bw". Hope that helps a little. It probably isn't the very best method, but it works for me.

[beehive50]

Thanks for sharing this!!! I've often wondered if I was scanning at the best resolution... I usually use 600-1000. This will help next time!

Originally Posted by AbbyG

I took a Scanning and Restoration course a couple of weeks ago, and this was the first thing that they taught us. How to calculate the scanning resolution for the desired print size. This was the formula they gave us:

Desired Print Height/Height of the Original (in inches) X Printing Resolution

For example if you had a 35 mm neg and you wished to print it at 8 x 10 your calculation would look something like:

8 in / 0.95 in x 300 ppi = 3032 ppi And then you round up to the nearest 100 so in this case you would scan at 3100 ppi

that way you are getting your best quality for print while not creating unnecessarily huge files.

Good luck and happy scanning!!

[cheekymonkey]

Wow! Thanks for sharing that formula, Christine(AbbyG)! I'm going to use that the next time I have a batch of photos to scan!