I have selected a slide taken in August 2002 at Edinburgh as an example of how I scan them and here below are 4 scans saved at different stages when I was working on it so show what it looked like to start with and when I completed the scan to a standard that I was reasonably happy with.
One thing to bear in mind when you look at these jpeg scans (and every other photo on my site) is that there have all been reduced in file size quite a lot so that they don't take too long to load on your monitor.
For example if I had uploaded these four scans below without compressing them then they would have been about 380kb each rather than between 110kb and 120kb that I have made them so by reducing them they load quicker but of course in doing this there is a loss in quality because the file sizes are now smaller.
 Up to Stage 3 complete. |
 Up to Stage 4 complete. |
 Up to Stage 6 complete. |
 This scan is finished. |
When the 20 meg scan is complete I always save it as a Bitmap file to a seperate folder and when I have enough of them I write them onto a 700 meg blank CD, this comes in very handy if I want to do a good quality print of the photo (more later).
3.My scans for the web site are usually about 930 pixels wide by 610 pixels high so the next thing to do is reduce the 20 meg file to the correct size so in Adobe Photoshop I click on the IMAGE toolbar then go to IMAGE SIZE which show the dimensions of the 20 meg file and this is usually about 3200 pixels wide by 2100 pixels high.
I then swipe the 3200 pixel box and type in 930 which reduces the height in proportion and click OK to carry out the task so that the scan is now 930 by 610 pixels or thereabouts, having reduced the original large file it is time so save it as a Bitmap and this much smaller file will normally be 1.6 meg.
4.The file is now the correct size so it is time to work on it and the first task is to sharpen up the raw scan so go to FILTER-SHARPEN-UNSHARP MASK and adjust to what suits you eye, I use settings of AMOUNT 180% RADIUS 0.5 THRESHOLD which shouldn't be too far away.
5.Next I go to IMAGE-ADJUST-AUTO LEVELS and this usually improves the colours to give a good starting point for more alterations.
6.All scans that you do need to be brightened up quite a bit after you get the raw scan into your Photo software so I like to use the three different methods of doing this using a little of each one, probably most people wouldn't use all three but it's just my personal preference.:-
(LEVELS). You find this on Adobe Photoshop by clicking IMAGE-ADJUST-LEVELS where you see three small triangles where moving them will adjust the light levels of your scan so usually I move the right hand one slightly to the left which lightens and adds some contrast then I move the middle one also to the left slightly.
(CURVES). Going to IMAGE-ADJUST-CURVES brings up this selection which gives you a line that you can alter to change the brightness so with this one you need to curve it upwards to the point where you are happy with the scan now looking to have the level of brightness that you think is realistic and appropriate.
(BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST). Clicking IMAGE-ADJUST-BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST brings this one up and lastly I like to add a little brightness to the scan which I think makes the colours stand out more.
7.Next job is to remove any specs or marks in the scan so I zoom in once and select the CLONE STAMP TOOL and choose a brush size that isn't too big then clone out any offending debris that shouldn't be visible in the scan.
Having completed this job it is always best to check that the subject isn't tilted up or down in your photos so if it is I go to the CROP TOOL (third one down on the left of the toolbar) and draw a square just inside the borders of the photo then place the cursor below the box on the right hand side I have drawn where you will see it has changed to show two arrows pointing up and left so by holding the left mouse button down you can tilt the box then by pressing RETURN on the keyboard it
will crop the photo and in so doing correct any tilt that you had when the photo was taken.
8.Once you have finished making alterations to the scan save it to your folder and I always save them as Bitmaps and eventually write them to a CD for safekeeping about every month after losing lots of scans on two occasions due to Virus problems in the past.
Finally I save the image again this time as a JPEG at between 100kb to 115kb which goes into the folder for my web site ready for uploading onto the Internet when I have enough for a new update.
9.If you have a CD Writer it is important to regularly back up your scans on to a blank CD in case of any problems with your PC such as Viruses. There is nothing worse than losing hours of work when dozens of your scans become unobtainable due to a software problem so it is well worth the effort to copy them to a blank CD just in case.
1 & 2.After loading up Adobe Photoshop I preview the slide and then draw the selection box around the slide for the area that I want to scan, next I usually set the scanning resolution at 3200dpi and move the slide bar so that it will give me a file size of 20 megabytes.
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