How do I prepare photos for scanning?
To prepare your archive of pictures, slides and other media follow the following rules.
We recommend scanning your photos by group, dates, and by size. The more sorting you do ahead of time, the better organized it is for you when we return your picture files. Sorting by group means by family, person, vacation, event, etc. Sorting by date could be by year, decade, range of days, eras, etc. If you have a large order, separating by size will save on cost. The returned digital files will be easily identified by your designated sorting method. We offer consulting and actual organizational help as a service. For "Do's and Don'ts" for proper care and preparation of your photography, our technician offers tips on our blog page.
How will I receive my digital photo files?
We offer several options for you to receive your new digital archives.
The most efficient and fastest method is by the internet via DropBox download. We send you a link in an email and the file folders are automatically downloaded to your "Downloads folder" on your computer. What's nice about this method is you can pass along the link to family and friends for them to download also. The second method is by thumbdrive or other small portable drive. Typically, a 500 picture archive will be around 350 MB in size. We can supply thumb drives for a fee, or you can give us a portable drive of your own. The third method is by CD-ROM or DVD-ROM data disc.
How much is this going to cost?
That's the number one question isn't it? Like a home it can be a mansion or a studio apartment. In photography terms it can be a suitcase full of pictures or a small set of envelopes. The cost per image goes down as the suitcase fills up. You can see the base prices on our service page, but let's give you a short scenario of a project.
Let's say you have 400 photos to scan. If these photos are all standard size prints covering many decades and there is no specialty items then the cost would be approximately $140. But in our experience no job is that clean. Your collection might include a number of polaroids which require individual scanning, slides that require specialized scanning, pictures in photo albums that must be removed or scanned as multiples and separated in the computer, Some photos may be ripped, folded, or dirty that you might want repaired or cleaned. You may have some enlargements you always wanted done or reproductions that need mounting for framing. Each project for us is uniquely different requiring good communication with you to organize, list special items, and identify damage repair work. So, give us an estimated number of items broken down by standard, polaroids, slides, damaged, restoration work, and other unique needs. We'lll give you an estimated cost of the project and a timeline to delivery.
Can I deliver my slides in a carousel tray?
Yes, in fact that is a great way for us to ID each image, by tray and slot. Standard slide carousels have slots for 80 slides. We can start with slide 1, set the counter to 1 and once all are scanned you can easily ID a slide in its slot for further action by us like making a photo print of a specific favorite slide.
What size will my photos be?
We scan photographs at their original size at 300 or 600 dpi in most cases. On the computer screen these sizes are large. And for printing purposes the quality is excellent. Some tiny pictures or enlargement requests will require a larger resolution. Slides are scanned at a standard high resolution of 2500, the equivalent of a 5 x7 print. Special resolution or higher than normal resolution for large format prints are created upon request.