Three Tips To Help You Get Excellent Looking Slide, Negative Photo Scans

Check out your scanner. Does it sport a “Digital Ice” logo? Does it sound fancy? Features such as “Color Fix,” “ROC,” “DEE,” and so on?

Take a review of your photos. Is it too dark? Too bright? Does the color look wrong? Why is this happening? This is due to the fact that you depend on your scanner’s ability to fix your digital photos. Scanners are built to scan, which means they capture a large number of pixels. Even a $200 scanner is able to scan the same amount of pixels that a scanner costing $3000 could. Pixels aren’t the issue. The issue comes with the use of your scanner to perform the editing. Of course, the more expensive it is the scanner and the more powerful the editing software it comes with. However, in my opinion, and having scanned for six years of my life, I have found that not even my $3000 scanner has consistently good results.

This is what I’m doing instead…

Step One: Get a “Natural” Scan

Do not press any of the features included in your scanner. You can leave them as is. You’re just looking for a “natural” scan.

What you should do is capture the most pixels you can. For 35mm slides as well as negatives, choose 4000 DPI. For your 4″ x 6″ photos, use 900 DPI.

By using this resolution, you will get an 18 mega-pixel digital image. Yes, it’s quite a lot. But what do you want to be? Too many pixels or too few? Then you can use the high-resolution scans as archives or make copies for different uses.

Step Two: Utilize Editing Software to Fix Your Scans

This means you can have a normal scan. However, it’s not done. Since we’re not using the software for editing scanners and we must utilize software that was specifically designed for this task.

You may be thinking, “I’ll just stick to my scanner’s software, and thank you.”

This is okay. However, if you’ve spent 4 minutes attempting to scan and realize that the image is not worth the effort, what do you do?

Perhaps you are wondering, “I am no graphic designer or even that technical.”

There is no need to. I’ll show you exactly to do this.

Step 3: You need to fix three things In Order To Have A High-Quality Scan.

The first step is to install the program. Of course, there is Photoshop. Also, you can utilize Gimp. Gimp comes with the features that are available in Photoshop. However, it’s free. Once you’ve installed the software installed, you can open the scan(s), and here’s what you should be looking for…

The first thing to do the first step to do with your “natural” scanning is to remove scratches and dust. Each Gimp and Photoshop have an extremely simple tool that can complete this task swiftly and effectively. The tool is known as”Heal Brush” or “Heal Brush.” Yes, you need to manually scrub the scratches and dust. However, if you let it be the responsibility of the scanner’s editing software, it’s just going to take away crucial details. If you work it manually, you can be sure that you won’t lose any detail.

The next step is to restore the color. Even even if you scan a new image, the color will fade. This is because the scanner will also look at the glossy surface of your original. Gimp and Photoshop both offer an application known as “Auto Color Fix” and “Saturation,” which can bring the colors to their former splendor.

Then you have to correct the exposure. Sometimes scanners can cause your scans to be too dark or light. Also, Gimp and Photoshop have an application called “Exposure level” to correct this issue. This is a very simple fix.

Things You Are Able To Do Now?

Because the technical aspects are beyond the topic of this post, I will not go into the specifics. However, here are the steps you can take. If you are aware of the “natural” scan and you are aware of the three most important things you’ll need to address, simply conduct an Internet search. Find “how to get rid of scratches and dust,” “how to use Auto Color,” and “how to utilize exposure Levels.” There are many videos for fixing your negative slide, slide as well as photo scans.