Scanning Tips thanks to Chris Johnson
1) Before you begin, be sure you have a very clear idea of the final physical size of the print you are planning to make.
2) Always scan at the highest possible bit depth to facilitate digital editing.
3) Use the scanner’s controls to capture as much visual information as possible from your source.
4) Whenever possible use a dedicated film scanner like the Imacon for 35mm scans.
5) Whenever possible scan using the ideal resolution and color space for the medium of your choice. (See below)
6) Scan black and white negatives in RGB Mode and then convert then in Photoshop use: Image > Mode > Grayscale to convert them to black and white files.
7) Always clean your source materials fanatically.
There are four factors that determine the ideal file size of your print:
1) The physical dimensions of the print you plan to make.
2) Resolution- The number of pixels per inch
3) The number of channels –Grayscale (1 channel), RGB (3 channels)
4) Bit depth- The number of colors each pixel can be.
The Adobe Photoshop New dialog box gives you a simple way to approximate the ideal file size for a given digital print.
Depending on the scanning software you are using, there are two ways to achieve the ideal file size for your final print.
1) You can either enter these values as settings and begin your scan.
2) With dedicated film scanners you should scan transparencies at the optical resolution of the scanner with the crop size at 100%, and then, if necessasry, re-compute the file size using Photoshop’s Image Size box.
Remember to try avoid having to increase the file size when you re-compute.
With some flatbed scanning software you should set the output size to the final size of your print and the resolution to whatever setting results in the ideal file size that you determined with the Photoshop New Box.
Ideal Resolutions and Color Spaces
For ink jet prints: 300 dpi – Adobe RGB 1998
