FotoBridge | Digitizing Photos Blog

There are many advantages to scanning photos. With a digitized image, you now have a file that you can easily manipulate. This ability allows you to fix problems that otherwise may have lasted a lifetime. But when you convert photos to digital images, you may find that an issue which didn’t exist before is now causing your picture to look odd. Luckily, most problems that occur during the scanning process can be fixed - you just have to know what the problem is. Do you know how to spot channel registration?

Many times, we take color for granted. The vibrant green leaves of the trees and the bright blue sky are a daily occurrence for most of us. Although we don’t do it enough, occasionally we take a moment to savor the colors of our world, and are compelled to take a picture of it.

Not all photo scans are created equal and knowing the difference can mean the getting better results for your photo scanning efforts. Digitized photos that look great onscreen may be look less sharp in print, for example, if not scanned to sufficient quality.

You don’t have to be a professional photographer to possess professional looking digital photos. The beauty of scanning images yourself or using a photo scanning service is that you have the ability to manipulate the digital photo quality. But to fix a photo, you first need to understand the problem. Have you ever seen a photo that seemed to fall a little flat but couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason? That ‘flatness’ you saw was likely inaccurate tone reproduction, one of the most common imaging problems. Whether it occurs in the original picture or as a result of a scanning mistake, it’s easily fixed.

When embarking on a scanning job, it’s best to use the highest quality of original available. In the case of slides, the slide itself is the highest quality available and, in the case of prints, it’s the film negative. Both slide and film negatives are essentially the same material and can be handled the same way.

These days it is not surprising to see family collections of 10,000 or more photos. Can you imagine how long it would take you to scan all those photos yourself? Think of all the things you could be doing during that time – seeing your family, going on vacation, gardening, reading...

Whether your cleaning has been delayed or you’re preparing for a celebration, like a graduation or wedding, converting photos to digital images is always a good idea. Not only do you create a back-up of the original photo for safe keeping but you can improve the quality.

In our two previous articles, Photo Organizing Advice For After You Scan Photos and Beyond Photo Scanning: Photo Organizing Tips from the Experts, we featured fantastic APPO members who provided advice on photo organizing. Megan McCourt is just as passionate about photo organizing as her fellow APPO members. Personal photo organizing is a career that combines her love of photography, history, and helping others. Below she shares insight about what her clients struggle most with and a couple tips for how you can conquer your own photo organizing project after scanning photos.

From t-shirts to mugs to custom iPhone cases, there are a number of different kinds of gifts you can consider purchasing for Mother's Day. Have you decided what you're getting Mom yet?