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Scanning Photos

Preserve your old photos—including slides and negatives—and bring them into the digital age with scanning. These tips and techniques will help you scan like a pro.

Choose your best photos to scan

Scanning Photos - A Wetpaint WIKI: HP Community

You can enhance faded color and sharpen fuzziness with image-editing software, but start with clear, vibrant images whenever possible.

Know your scanner settings

Scanning Photos - A Wetpaint WIKI: HP CommunityHP scanners have settings for resolution, sharpening, color, and other attributes. The default values usually provide the best results, but you can easily fine-tune the settings in your software. Refer to your scanner manual for details.

Select the best resolution

Scanning images at a resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch) results in a sharp master image and gives you the flexibility to use it in various ways—to make high-quality prints or to resize later and send via e-mail. If you have a specific use in mind, you can scan at lower resolutions.

  • Scanning photos for e-mail or the Web – 72 dpi
  • Scanning photos for inkjet printing – 150 dpi
  • Scanning photos for archiving – 300 dpi
  • Scanning slides or negatives for prints larger than 5" x 7" –greater than 300 dpi

Scanning Photos - A Wetpaint WIKI: HP CommunityChoose the right file format

Once you’ve scanned your image, select from the following formats depending on how you plan to use your image.

  • JPEG: If you’re sure you’ll only be viewing your image onscreen (e-mailing or posting it online), save it as a JPEG, which compresses the file size for speedy downloading.
  • TIFF: If you plan to print your image or if you’re not sure how you’ll use it in the future, save it as a TIFF to preserve detail and color information for maximum flexibility.

Get oriented

Scan your image in the orientation in which it will be used, either vertically or horizontally. This preserves image quality, which can be lost if digital images are rotated after scanning.

Crop to size

Limit file size and save hard drive space with cropping. Use your scanner software tools to scan only the portion of your image you need. Or, scan the entire image, then crop to size with your image-editing software.

Scanning Photos - A Wetpaint WIKI: HP CommunityScan slides and negatives

Many HP scanners feature a built-in adapter for converting 35 mm slides and negatives into digital files. Clean them w

Pick a Project

You can use your scanned photos, slides, and negatives in all kinds of projects—from scrapbooking to quilting! Check out the Create page for new project ideas.

For more tips and how-to articles, visit HP’s Everyday Printing Center.




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