Are you looking at having your slides scanned? While I’ve been scanning slides for several years as a professional, I thought I’d offer some insight when you’re looking to having your slides scanned; or even if you’re doing it yourself.
Preparation
Preparation is key! I hate dust on photos. Some people can’t look at a document without noticing all the typos; I can’t get past all the dust that appears as white spots on photos. So, what do I do? I dust the slides! Each and everyone before I scan them. This can be accomplished with a very fine soft brush and/or non-abrasive cloth; as you do not want to scratch your slides. It may sound like a pain, but it’s worth it to try to remove as much dust as possible before scanning; as opposed to afterwards. I do know of several professionals that do not include this, unless you pay extra.
Resolution
What the heck is resolution? It’s the quality of the image being scanned, and there are various degrees of DPI (dots per inch) to consider. For photographs, the minimum DPI you want is 300, but I prefer 600 as it gives a better quality when wanting to print your images. When printing photographs, most labs will print at 300 dpi.
When scanning slides though, you need to scan larger because the original is only about 1.37″x88″. Let’s take a look at the differences below. If you left the DPI at 300 what would that get you, versus scanning at 3000 DPI?
By the way, this lovely couple is actually my great-grandparents who were born and raised in Texas. No editing has been done to the slide at this point.
Editing/Fixing Colors
Notice the colors in the images above? When scanning slides they tend to have an unnatural look, or color casting. I’ve experimented with several different scanning tools and techniques over the years. Depending on the scanner being used, and a lot of them will come with Digital Ice Technology, I don’t use it. I prefer to have more control of the coloring in Lightroom. Plus, using Digital Ice tends to slow down the process and I often times do not like the results of what Digital Ice does to the image.
Let’s take a look at this photo scanned at 3000 dpi with color cast removed vs editing in Lightroom.
Storage – What to do after they are scanned?
Even though your precious slides have now been scanned, I still would not want to dispose of them. Think of this as another form of backup. Instead of keeping them in carousels or trays, you can purchase archival quality binders and sleeves specifically for slides. Not only will you keep the originals safe, but this will take up less space and you can access them easier, just in case.
Even though your precious slides have now been scanned, I still would not want to dispose of them. Think of this as another form of backup. Instead of keeping them in carousels or trays, you can purchase archival quality binders and sleeves specifically for slides. Not only will you keep the originals safe, but this will take up less space and you can access them easier, just in case.
In closing
While I didn’t write everything that could be written about scanning slides, I wanted to provide you with points to be aware of when having you slides scanned. Hope you enjoyed!! And as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to write me.
