A short course held at the Guildford Institute on 20th March 2018

1. Scanning & Digitization
Michael Sleigh
Photographer at Polypodphoto

2. An introduction to the scanning &
digitization of photographs,
documents and things of value

3. You may have photos and documents
that need saving for posterity.
We will look at copying and scanning, as a
way of preserving items.
We will also consider photography as a way of
obtaining digital copies of items.

4. What to do with your photos and
documents that you want to preserve:
(a). Identify what material there is to be saved,
then sort and categorize.
(b). Prepare a plan of work (and timescale if
there is a large amount of material).
(c). Organize into photographs, paper based
documents and other items.

5. (d). Make a decision as to what is to be scanned or
photographed to produce a digital copy and/or
record print.
(e). After assessment , prioritize the work to be
undertaken.
(f). Prepare a work flow plan taking into account
limitations on time and equipment.
(g). Make an list of all items that have been scanned
or photographed.

6. Types of material likely to be encountered:
Photographic – B&W and colour prints,
negatives and transparencies (slides).
Paper based documents such as Certificates,
Wills, letters and ephemera.
Three dimensional items.

7. Use scanning/photography to record items in case of
future loss or damage through theft, fire or water
damage.
Useful for insurance purposes if you have a
collection of valuable antiques and paintings, or a
stamp/coin collection.

8. Digital files can be used to create a digital
archive of images and/or text files.
Place the digital images/text files online in a
suitable website (such as Flickr for photos) or
‘In the Cloud’.
Produce a database of what material is stored and
where it can be found.

9. When using a photo processing package (such as
Photoshop Elements) add Tags/Metadata and
key-wording to the images to allow for future
searching and to secure the information about
the image by embedding the data within the
image file itself.

10. • Store the digital files in at least two places off the computer – an
external hard disk, ‘Cloud’ storage and/or on CD/DVD.
• Consider giving a copy of the CD/DVD to someone else for them to
store ‘offsite’ away from your computer.
• Be aware that hard disks can fail and that CDs/DVD’s can become
unreadable!
• Storage ‘In the Cloud’ can become expensive if saving large
amounts of data and may become inaccessible.
• Online image websites have been known to cease trading

11. Scanning, Copying and Printing
Ways of obtaining a digital file and a print/copy from a
paper based original:
(1). Use a desktop domestic scanner/printer at home to
get a direct, same size paper based copy (B&W or
colour) – quality depends on the scanning capability
of the printer and the number of inks it uses if its a
colour copy.

12. (2). Use a desktop scanner/printer or scanner at home
connected to a computer to scan the original and
produce a digital file saved on the computer at the best
suitable resolution - quality depends on the scanning
capability of the printer and the scanning software used.
(3). Take originals to a High Street Print/Copy Shop and
get them to scan, print and save a digital copy to a USB
flash drive - a good option and sometimes the only
option if the original is over the size of a domestic
scanner bed.

13. Resulting digital file (from 2. and 3.) can then be used
to print at home on a domestic printer (quality
depends on the printer capability and the number of
inks it uses).
Take to a High Street Print/Copy Shop and get them to
print, or upload the file to an online web based photo
print company.
Remember to save the digital file to hard disk, CD/DVD
or secure ‘Cloud’ storage

14. Scanning film transparencies (slides):
Some flatbed scanners have attachments that allow
transparencies to be scanned but this method does not
produce the best quality scans, neither do the small
cheap slide scanners which are available.
The best method is to use a dedicated stand alone
transparency scanner but these are expensive to buy
and time consuming when digitizing a whole
collection of slides.

15. Digital Cameras
Digital cameras can be used to produce files when the
original is three dimensional or difficult to get on a
flatbed scanner.
Compact cameras can be used depending upon
capabilities but 35mm SLR’s are better as they allow
the use of macro lenses and accessories.
Smart phones and tablets now offer another option,
some smart phone images can be surprisingly good.

16. The Question of TIFF, JPEG or PDF?
Digital files produced by scanners can usually be saved as
TIFF, JPEG or PDF depending upon the settings used.
For the best results use TIFF (although they are larger
files), JPEG can be used if quality is not the first
consideration (JPEG’s are compressed files), PDF can be
used if no post scanning processing is required.
Cameras can give the option of saving as a RAW or JPEG
file – use a high quality JPEG setting.

17. Image Processing:
Once the scanned images have been saved there is
the opportunity to use image processing software,
such as Photoshop Elements, to achieve best
quality corrected images and to add keywords and
metadata to the digital file.
The file can then be saved in the most relevant
format and size for the desired end use and/or
archiving for the future .

18. Michael Sleigh
polypodphoto.co.uk
© 2018