I’ve avoided it for a long time now. But the time has come… It’s as if the world doesn’t exist before 2002!
I am of course referring to non-digital images: prints, slides and other miscellaneous cutouts and memorabilia; The images that are in a shoebox, in a drawer and in albums that are coming apart.
I got my 1st digital camera on my birthday in Aug. 2002. A 3MP Sony. The beauty of 35mm film was traded in for pixelated, washed-out images. But who cared?!? The images were all on a hard drive now and they were so easy to access and make lifetime stories with in slideshows, videos and digital albums! My youngest daughter has her whole life documented in digital form. But my oldest daughter’s 1st 3 years are on film. She is just going into middle school and I want to create a digital album of her life so far. I have 3 years of scanning to do.
Do you know what settings to put your scanner on?
Do you know how to organize your folders?
Should I back up my files once they are scanned in?
What do I do with the old prints?
What settings should I have my scanner on?
I don’t do ANY color or sharpness adjustments in the scanner software. Those refinements should be done in editing software. For now, you want the best representation of the image being scanned. Place it on CLEAN glass: use a clean eyeglass or lens cloth and lens cleanser to clear the surface of all fingerprints, smudges and dust. I scan 4x6s at 600 dpi. I scan 8x10s at 300 dpi. Slides should be scanned in at 1200 dpi. Slides require a special scanner. Please note that any image taken by someone else is automatically copyrighted. It is illegal to duplicate a professional photographer’s images. Don’t get in trouble.
How should I organize my folders?
I organize my folder chronologically (by date). I start with a folder labeled “2011.” Inside “2011″ are 12 folders labeled “2011_01,” “2011_02,” etc… Inside those folders are more folder named by the event, such as “heather_bday” or “graduation,” etc…. When I have random shots, I just place them directly in that month and don’t even name a special folder.
Should I back up my files once they are scanned in?
YES! Any file that is important to you should be in 3 places (2 at the minimum). For my scanning project and most photos I have, I use 2 places. I have them on an external hard drive AND they are backed up to “Crash Plan.” Crash Plan is a cloud service. If my hard drive ever failed, I can restore all of my files back onto a new hard drive from Crash Plan. Crash Plan is not intended to be used as an offsite storage for working from. The file recovery is slow. It is for emergencies and costs about $6/month.
What do I do with the old prints?
I suggest that location #3 for backup is the original prints. But if the space they are taking up drives you crazy, I suggest that you keep all carefully composed prints, professional prints, polaroids, vintage prints, black & whites, and negatives. Toss the 4x6s on generic photo paper. This is what I may do. Wouldn’t it be nice to free up that space?
