Tutorial Tuesday: Scanning your Photos

February 17, 2009 | Filed Under Tutorials | 3 Comments 

Hi all! It’s Kristie (kcherrie) and I’m here to do a tutorial on scanning. I have to scan a lot of traditional photos of my oldest son when I’m scrapping digitally. So these are some of the things that I do to get a better picture. Now, by NO means am I an expert on scanning, but I can show you a few things that I have learned from trial and error.

(I am using an Epson Perfection V500 scanner and CS4 to scan and edit my photos, so my screen shots might be different than everyone else’s.)

So, the first thing you want to do is scan your photo. Turn your scanner on and let it warm up a bit. Make sure your picture and your scanner is free from dust, lint, hair etc. Place your photo on the scanner bed and try your best to place it straight. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfectly straight… you can always correct in Photoshop. To import, I choose File > Import > Epson Perfection V500.

You may or may not have some of these options. With my scanner I select the Professional Mode. It allows you to have a few more options. Then I select the following:

• Document Type: Reflective-for photos, typed text, receipts, drawings.
• Document Source: Document Table
• Auto Exposure Type: Photo
• Image Type: 24-bit color 
• Resolution: 300 dpi

With the Epson scanner you can choose a target size. So, if you want your photo larger than the original size it will automatically adjust the dpi to the correct amount. If your scanner does not have this feature you will need to increase the dpi before you scan your photo. For example, you have a photo that is 2 x 2.5 inches and you want to increase it to 4 x 5 inches and not lose any quality. You would need to increase the dpi 2 times. So, multiply 300 dpi by 2 and scan photo at 600 dpi. 

Next select “Preview.” This will give you a preview of your photo. After I have previewed it I can make a few adjustments before I scan. When I click on any of these my photo will preview what it will scan like if selected.

• Unsharp Mask
• Descreening
• Color Restoration
• Backlight Correction
• Dust Removal
• Digital Ice Technology

When you’re happy with your photo, outline your photo with the marquee and scan into Photoshop. 

From here I try to correct any imperfections. I LOVE to use the Healing Brush tool. Zoom in on your photo, select the healing brush tool and a soft round brush. Then choose a “clean area” close to the area you want to correct. Press alt and click on that area. Then target the “dirty area” and click. Presto, it’s fixed! You can also fix the eyes with the Healing Brush or Red Eye tool. 

If want your main image to pop, you can blur your background. Grab the lasso tool and select an area around your main image. Then choose Select > Inverse (or Shift + CTRL + I) and choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and adjust the slider to the amount of blur you want in your background. You can also adjust the contrast of the photo to make it pop more.

When scanning dark colors they always seemed to be lightened. I found that by experimenting with blending modes with a black and white picture on top it could darken the photo.

Here are some of my examples. Hope this helps everyone! This is how my photo scanned into Photoshop:

And this is my final result:

I scanned this photo at original size and used dust removal feature. Once in Photoshop I:

• Cropped my picture to get clean edges
• Used the Healing Brush tool
• Adjusted the Contrast (CTRL + B)
• Copied my picture onto another layer
• Changed the copied layer to B/W 
• Changed copied B/W layer to Mulitply blend mode at 45% Opacity

Here’s another example of before:

And after:

I scanned this photo at original size and used dust removal feature. Once in Photo shop I:

• Cropped it
• Used the Healing Brush tool
• Used the Red Eye tool
• Adjusted the Contrast
• Used lasso to select background area and blurred it

So try this for yourself and see just what your scanner can do for your old photos!