Buying a digital camera doesn't mean your old prints, slides, or negatives are obsolete. You can easily convert them with a scanner to bring them into the 21st century.
Step 1: Organize your photos Before scanning, organize your photos – and slides and negatives, if you have them – into logical groups. This will make renaming and labeling them much easier later on.
Step 2: Clean your photos Using a soft photography or makeup brush, gently clean your photos. Any dirt or smudges will be visible in your scans.
Step 3: Clean the scanner Using isopropyl, or another cleaning agent that won't leave residue or streaks, and a lint-free cloth, wipe any dust, smudges, and fingerprints off the scanner's glass bed.
TIP: Turn on the scanner's light to reveal any overlooked smudges, fingerprints, or dirt.
Step 4: Select your DPI based on your image use For images you intend to print, a DPI (or dots per inch) of 300 is recommended. Slides or negatives need a DPI of at least 2,400. For use on the Web, a DPI of 72 is acceptable.
Step 5: Scan your old photos Using the software that came with your scanner, scan each photo into your computer.
Step 6: Rename your digital scans Your scans will likely have numerical names that tell you nothing about the content of the scanned image. Rename each file.
Step 7: Edit your images Using photo- editing software, view each image, cropping out bits you don't want, straightening slightly crooked images, and using color correction where necessary.
Step 8: Backup your images Photo library software makes organizing and viewing photos on the computer simple, but you should also burn your scanned photos to a CD, DVD, or an external hard drive for safekeeping. You can typically save about 1,200 images on a CD and close to 7,000 on a DVD when you save them as JPG files.
FACT: You can get a scanner the size of a ballpoint pen, meant for scanning single lines of text.
You Will Need
A flatbed scanner with attachments for slides and negatives