Photo Resolution

by **RandyG** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 5:04 am

Greetings All,

New to PSG and would like some advice on something...I have been elected by my family to take all our family's photos and 35mm slides and create a DVD slide show to distribute to the entire family to preserve our memories. This is no small task because there are photos that date back to the early 1900's in Europe. Can someone pass along some advice in terms of scanning specifics? What would be the optimum recommended resolution to use when scanning these photos into the PC for the slide show.

Also, to those who use digital cameras to take photo's for their shows, what resolution do you recommend in terms of quality vs. file size??

Thanks, in advance..I've got a lot to learn and I'm fortunate to have come across this site with all you talented people..
(A little schmoozing never hurt)

Randy

by **nannybear** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 6:48 am

RandyG wrote:Greetings All,

Also, to those who use digital cameras to take photo's for their shows, what resolution do you recommend in terms of quality vs. file size??
Randy

I always take mine in the highest res so I can print if I choose to. It also allows me more zoom room without pixelating in the slide show.

As for the pics you might want to talk to your local imaging center on what they would charge to scan them all for you. They usually have better equipment than a non pro at home would have. Do you have photo editing software to "heal" the really old ones? Good luck, cheers Jan

by **RandyG** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:39 am

Thanks Jan for you reply and input....I will look into that.. I do have PhotoShop software to make repairs to the old photos which I started playing with. "Heal" is really neat.

Goodaye!

by **DickK** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:11 pm

You've asked a big question! :wink:

And one with lots of answers that routinely get debated about. There are a number of threads here you might find helpful, search with a key word of "scanning" or "image resolution" but here's a couple to start off with:

http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/viewtopic.php?t=3735

http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/viewtopic.php?t=3753

http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/viewtopic.php?t=1010

Getting good scans is a big topic--it isn't hard but there are so many variables that there's no way to say "do this and you'll get good results". Instead, I'll recommend a terrific source of information that I ran across a few years ago.:

http://www.scantips.com/

Wayne hasn't updated that site much lately so anything specific to a model of scanner or version of software may be a little dated but the 99% of his advice is just as valid now as it ever has been.

Hope that helps, and don't be afraid to keep asking questions!
Dick

by **RandyG** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:36 am

Thanks Dick for your reply...I will read the articles you suggest...You probably just saved me hours of searching around and that is much appreciated.

Goodaye,

Randy

by **debngar** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 9:31 am

Dick: There is a lot of good info in those archived posts! Thanks for listing them.

Randy: I set my 8.2Mp camera to the highest jpg resolution/quality (not shooting RAW yet though) and used those images for my slideshows without reducing them. They often become larger after post-processing, sharpening, changing levels, etc. I never reduce them for the show in particular since I want to have the ability to zoom in somewhat without too much pixelation.

If you choose to scan slides, do a couple and see how they come out before doing the whole batch. Open them in Photoshop Elements or whatever you're using to edit them and see if they are decently viewable - zoom in a little. I made the big mistake of doing about 40 old family color slides from the 1940's at 300 dpi and realized only after opening them to do some restoration that the dpi was way too small. Eeek! :shock:

So I went back and adjusted the dpi. I can't remember exactly but it had to be bumped up to at least 600 and I think it probably even might have been 1200 dpi (and in tif format) to get it so they would look decent on screen. This means each scan takes longer too though. Since they start out so small, this is why you need to scan at dpi larger than most 4x6 scanned pics. If you don't do them at larger dpi you will be terribly disappointed. After scanning, I worked with them in the non-lossy tif format to prevent losing image information. After all the editing and color restoration etc, I saved the large tif files to a copy jpg file (largest and best resolution) to use those in the slideshow. This reduces the size since jpgs are compressed images. No further reduction after that was done.

I would consider farming out the scanning if you think someone else can do a better job. It's time consuming and you may be taking time to restore them after you have them in digital format anyways. I would encourage you to consider taking that time to learn how to do some basic restoration to restore the color a bit (if they are color slides/pictures)and lighten the shadows. It's very rewarding and they will often look so much better with even the smallest of adjustments to levels of shadows! It's almost like an unknown treasure to be opened if you can brighten up the dark areas of a face in an old photo - something very simple to do.

"Restoration Samples" - 4 min
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... alb=125566

If you have hundreds of pictures, you might consider putting them in segments of decades (about 10 min each max ) or something so it doesn't become one big long show. This gives the viewer a choice of watching pieces and coming back to their favorite segments. Otherwise, the viewer is forced to watch through the whole thing to see one little part a second time. That can be cumbersome with a 20 minute show. You should be able to make it play all the way through one after the other even if it's broken up into parts.

Keep us posted on your project and let us see how it comes along.

Debbie

by **images-that-move** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:42 am

If you want to "farm out" scanning and even some restoration here is a place that will do it... and very reasonable prices... (19 cents per 35mm frame for scanning).

http://www.scancafe.com/

Have fun...

by **RandyG** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:19 am

Debbie,

Thank you so much for all that useful information. You probably prevented me from making a lot of mistakes and wasting a lot of time. It's so nice to benefit from others hard work and trial and error. LOL. I was also wondering whether I should brake up the show into smaller ones and you answered that for me too.

Many thanks and best regards...

I checked out that site www.scansafe as was suggested and it seems pretty reasonable especially since they do free restorations. They also scan the images at 3000 dpi.

Great help!