Three Tips To Help You Get Excellent Looking Slide, Negative Photo Scans
Take a look at your scanner.
Does it have a "Digital Ice" logo on it? Does it have fancy sounding features like "Color Fix", "ROC", "DEE", etc? Now take a look at your scans.
Are they too dark? Too bright? Is the color off? Why does this happen? This is because you are relying on your scanner to fix your digital images.
Scanners are made to scan, to pick up a lot of pixels.
Even a $200 scanner can scan the exact amount of pixels a $3000 scanner can.
Pixels are not the problem.
The problem is when you use your scanner to do the editing.
Of course, the more expensive the scanner, the better the editing software it has.
But in my opinion, and after scanning 6 years for a living, not even my $3000 scanner gives me consistent results.
This is what I do instead...
Step One: Get A "Natural" Scan DO NOT press any features that came with your scanner.
Leave them alone.
You just want a "natural" scan.
What you DO want to do is get as many pixels as you can.
For your 35mm slides and negatives, use 4000 DPI.
For your 4" x 6" photos, use 900 DPI.
Using this resolution will give you an 18 mega pixel digital image.
I know, that is pretty big.
But what would you rather have? Too many pixels, or too little? And you can use the high resolution scans as archives, and make copies for other uses.
Step Two: Use Editing Software To Fix Your Scans So you have a natural scan.
But it is hardly finished.
And since we are not using the scanner's editing software, we need to use software that is specifically made for this job.
You might think, "I'll just stick to my scanner's software, thank you".
That is fine.
But when you spend 4 minutes on a scan and find that the digital image is useless, then what? Or you might be thinking, "I am no graphic designer or that technical".
You do not have to.
I will show you the exact steps how to do this.
Step Three: You Only Need To Fix 3 Things To Get A Quality Scan First, you need the software.
Of course there is Photo shop.
Or, you can use Gimp.
Gimp has all the same features as Photo shop, but it is FREE.
So once you have your software, open your scan(s) and here is what to look for...
The first thing you need to do with your "natural" scan is to get rid of the dust and scratches.
Both Gimp and Photo shop have a very easy tool to do this job-- quickly and efficiently.
It is called the "Heal Brush".
Yes, you have to manually clean the dust and scratches.
But if you leave it up to your scanner's editing software, it will just take away important detail.
When you do it by hand, you are guaranteeing that you will not lose detail.
Next, you will need to fix the color.
Even if you scan a brand new photo, the colors will be faded.
That is because your scanner will also scan the glossy surface off your original.
Gimp and Photo shop have a tool called "Auto Color Fix" and "Saturation" that will bring your colors back to their original luster.
Lastly you need to fix the exposure.
Sometimes scanners will make your scans too dark or too light.
Again Gimp and Photo shop have a tool called "Exposure Level" to fix this problem.
A very easy fix.
What You Can Do Right Now Because the technical stuff is beyond the scope of this article, I wont get into the details.
But here is what you can do.
Since you know to get a "natural" scan, and you know the 3 main things you need to fix, just do an Internet search.
Search, "how to remove dust and scratches", "how to use Auto Color", and "how to use Exposure Levels".
You will many video tutorials on how to fix up your slide, negative, and photo scans.
Thanks for stopping by! Konrad M.
Does it have a "Digital Ice" logo on it? Does it have fancy sounding features like "Color Fix", "ROC", "DEE", etc? Now take a look at your scans.
Are they too dark? Too bright? Is the color off? Why does this happen? This is because you are relying on your scanner to fix your digital images.
Scanners are made to scan, to pick up a lot of pixels.
Even a $200 scanner can scan the exact amount of pixels a $3000 scanner can.
Pixels are not the problem.
The problem is when you use your scanner to do the editing.
Of course, the more expensive the scanner, the better the editing software it has.
But in my opinion, and after scanning 6 years for a living, not even my $3000 scanner gives me consistent results.
This is what I do instead...
Step One: Get A "Natural" Scan DO NOT press any features that came with your scanner.
Leave them alone.
You just want a "natural" scan.
What you DO want to do is get as many pixels as you can.
For your 35mm slides and negatives, use 4000 DPI.
For your 4" x 6" photos, use 900 DPI.
Using this resolution will give you an 18 mega pixel digital image.
I know, that is pretty big.
But what would you rather have? Too many pixels, or too little? And you can use the high resolution scans as archives, and make copies for other uses.
Step Two: Use Editing Software To Fix Your Scans So you have a natural scan.
But it is hardly finished.
And since we are not using the scanner's editing software, we need to use software that is specifically made for this job.
You might think, "I'll just stick to my scanner's software, thank you".
That is fine.
But when you spend 4 minutes on a scan and find that the digital image is useless, then what? Or you might be thinking, "I am no graphic designer or that technical".
You do not have to.
I will show you the exact steps how to do this.
Step Three: You Only Need To Fix 3 Things To Get A Quality Scan First, you need the software.
Of course there is Photo shop.
Or, you can use Gimp.
Gimp has all the same features as Photo shop, but it is FREE.
So once you have your software, open your scan(s) and here is what to look for...
The first thing you need to do with your "natural" scan is to get rid of the dust and scratches.
Both Gimp and Photo shop have a very easy tool to do this job-- quickly and efficiently.
It is called the "Heal Brush".
Yes, you have to manually clean the dust and scratches.
But if you leave it up to your scanner's editing software, it will just take away important detail.
When you do it by hand, you are guaranteeing that you will not lose detail.
Next, you will need to fix the color.
Even if you scan a brand new photo, the colors will be faded.
That is because your scanner will also scan the glossy surface off your original.
Gimp and Photo shop have a tool called "Auto Color Fix" and "Saturation" that will bring your colors back to their original luster.
Lastly you need to fix the exposure.
Sometimes scanners will make your scans too dark or too light.
Again Gimp and Photo shop have a tool called "Exposure Level" to fix this problem.
A very easy fix.
What You Can Do Right Now Because the technical stuff is beyond the scope of this article, I wont get into the details.
But here is what you can do.
Since you know to get a "natural" scan, and you know the 3 main things you need to fix, just do an Internet search.
Search, "how to remove dust and scratches", "how to use Auto Color", and "how to use Exposure Levels".
You will many video tutorials on how to fix up your slide, negative, and photo scans.
Thanks for stopping by! Konrad M.
