|
SCANNING YOUR PHOTOS...
Sending your photos or scans to Paper Panache
(or elsewhere for that matter :)
In
the hopes of helping you to send your best possible scans here and elsewhere,
I have endeavored to bring you the shortest possible info to help lead you in
the right direction.
The three most important
things to attend to
BEFORE you hit the "SCAN" button are:
Resolution (dpi)
Size
Scan Quality
RESOLUTION.
If your scan is going to be viewed on a screen
(online), SCAN AT 96 DPI.
Do not use a higher DPI. To better understand why, see Why
Is My Scan So Huge?
SIZE.
BEFORE you hit the scan button, adjust
the final size of the scan.
As a rule of
thumb, scan at about 50% of full size. If the block is 8", set the output
at 4" or 50% (depending on how your scanner works). This results in a block that
fits on the screen without scrolling and allows me to do some cropping, if necessary.
QUALITY.
Simple:
aim between "too dark" and "too light." A scan preview is not terribly accurate,
so don't sweat it too much....Photoshop helps me to do wonders "fixing" scans.
However, experiment a little before settling on a too-dark or too-light scan.
Generally, you can fix problems by adjusting
Contast--makes
the whites whiter and the darks darker (or reduces this)
or
Brightness--brightens (or darkens) the
whole scan
Look at your preview and decide
what it needs. Everyone who does photo correction suits him/herself--there is
no true right or wrong, so don't obsess over it!
RECAP:
Scan at 96 dpi... 50% (or 400-500 pixels wide)...
adjust the quality so
it is neither "too dark" nor "too light."
That's it!
If this helped you, feel free to print this out for your paper-piecing friends.
Paper Panache, Images and Ideas for Paper Piecing
P.O. Box 2124, Winnetka,
CA 91396-2124 / www.paperpanache.com
|
