 Ray Landolfi |
Scanning Images for Optimum Photo Processing I have scanned photos for my website and as long as it looked ok on the screen I was happy. Recently I have received contacts from people looking to purchase prints. Now quality has become an issue as I want to give the best quality for the buck. Locally I have a lab that will print my digital images as actual photos, which I prefer over printing them myself... but I am unsure as to what resolution to scan the images at, what format to use (jpg or tiff), or any other correct setting to use to insure a top quality print.
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doug Nelson |
The general rule is 300 pixels-per-inch. Scan them at the maximum capability of your scanner. You can always resample them down if necessary, but I'd think you want to give the printer the most digital information with which to work. Scan into TIF, if possible. JPEG is only for compressing for web use. Ask your printshop the same questions.
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
Ask the lab. Each lab has their own set of parameters. I have one lab that likes 300ppi and another that asks for 250ppi. One accepts jpegs or tiffs one only wants jpegs. JPEG is not just for compressing web images. It is quite common to use this format when submitting images to a lab. Just be aware that when you have a JPEG file each time you save it the image gets compressed again. So always save a master file as a TIFF or PSD (if you have Photoshop).
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Wayne Attridge |
As Doug already mentioned, scan your photos as TIFF files at the highest resolution your scanner will produce. Then save this original scan. If you are using Photoshop or something similar to alter the photos, do all of your work and save the reworked photos as TIFF files. TIFF files contain all the picture colour data. Only when you are satisfied with a final copy should you convert the file to JPEG. JPEG compression discards some of the colour data to save file space and there is no way to retrieve this lost data by uncompressing the file.
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Ray Landolfi |
Great.. and thanks for all your responses. I scanned another image at 300 dpi and it looks fine and yes I saved it in TIFF format... now to just figure out what would be a good size (demention wise) to print 8x10 or 5x7 with out losing the quality.
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
Check out www.scantips.com.
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