Photo Scanning Services

What is the best way to estimate how many photos I have?

A good way to estimate the number of photos you have is to stack them and measure them with a ruler. One inch of stacked photos equals approximately 100 photos. The average photo album may contain in the range of 200-600 photos depending on size and type.

What is the best way to prepare my photos?

We do not have strict requirements for how to prepare your photos, but it works great to organize into groups using zippered plastic bags which you can use a marker to title the bag or make a title card to place inside each bag. We will create a custom titled folder of digital images for each titled group of photos. Here is a link to some more tips for preparing your project.

What scanning resolution do you use?

600 DPI is our standard resolution for scanning photos and memorabilia items up to 12 x 17 in size, and 1200 DPI is our standard for photos smaller than 3″ length or width.

What is included in the price of each scan?

Each photo is scanned at high resolution for archival quality digital images, which offers increased flexibility for enlarging, editing, and printing. Each photo is carefully scanned by hand using flatbed scanners and includes precise cropping and manual editing for best quality results. We do not use any automatic processes for the retouching process. All images are reviewed 3 times through our digitizing process for proper quality assurance.

Do you offer more advanced restoration of damaged photos?

Digital restoration is not a service we provide as we specialize in digitizing large volumes of a wide range of analog media to digital. We recommend either fixthephoto.com or support freelance artists at fiverr.com for further restoration on the digital images we have provided. You may also use a free online editor like photopea.com to edit your photos further on your own.

Do you also offer printing services from scanned photos?

We specialize in digitization and do not offer printing services. You can use the digital images to make prints from your preferred photo lab.

Do you scan memorabilia and letters in addition to printed photos?

Yes, we can also scan newspaper articles, letters, awards, documents, greeting cards, diary pages, or most any other memorabilia items. The pricing is based on size similar to photo scanning.

What image file format options do you offer?

The standard digital image output we offer is JPEG. Uncompressed TIFF format is optional by request for a surcharge.

How will my digital images be organized?

We will create custom titled folders by subject (if applicable) for each group of photos provided. We make it easy to correlate the digital transfers to the original media.

How are the digital files returned to me?

We output your digital files to either an appropriately sized USB flash drive and/or a digital download link via Dropbox.

Can you scan the annotations on the back of photos? Do you enter the descriptions in the EXIF data?

We do offer scanning of the back of photos with annotations a separate image in sequence after the front (only photos with annotations, not blanks). However, we do not offer a service to manually enter descriptions since it is a very subjective process. It can also be difficult to decipher handwriting and pertinent information to be entered, so this would be best done by the client upon return of the digital output.

Can you to identify and remove duplicate photos?

We do our best to identify and exclude duplicate photos as they are seen, but this is most possible when they are close together or not in separate albums or groups.

If I choose to have backs of photos scanned, do you charge for every back even in if blank?

We offer the option to scan the back of photos with descriptive annotations as a separate image, following the front in sequence, and use discretion to only scan backs with pertinent information, and exclude and do not charge for backs without description.

Do you crop out borders that are on my photos?

We start with over-scanning each photo with space around the edges, and then rotate and precisely crop the edges. Our default is to crop out blank borders on photos, but keep borders with dates or annotations. However, you can choose how you would like us to handle borders in editing with the options on our order form.

Do you handle photos in albums?

Yes. We carefully handle all types of photo albums, from pocket style to sticky adhesive pages to early 20th century scrapbook album pages. For album pages with descriptive writing or if the photos are stuck or glued to the pages, we can scan the full page at high resolution to preserve written descriptions and reduce potential risk of damaging photos by attempting to remove from the pages.

Can you scan photos that are in frames?

We do accept photos that are in frames, and remove the photo as feasible, then replace the photo. However, if a frame has a sealed backing, we would not replace the backing as we do not specialize in framing. We have a surcharge per frame of $5 for simple removal or $15 for more complex requiring any tools. Digitizing the photos once removed from the frame falls under our standard pricing.

If I have both prints and negatives, which one is better to scan?

As a general rule, scanning from the original negative will yield a higher resolution image, but the quality will depend on the condition of the negative and associated print. It is usually best to digitize the negatives since it is the original source and a more full image as associated prints often crop the edges.  The image from a negative may show more film grain but more detail, and a scan from a print may look less sharp. If negatives were stored in a hot or humid environment, the color dyes can shift, in which case the associated prints may be in better condition.

Can I send you both prints and negatives for you to determine which is better to scan?

We digitize prints and negatives with different processes and teams so if we are requested to digitize both negatives and associated prints, we would do one pass for each format. However, from there it is a time-consuming and subjective process to attempt to match up images and assess which is better quality and is not feasible for us to do. Most clients will choose is to have us digitize the negatives only, or we can digitize both prints and negatives which will incur a charge for both formats.

How large of a photo can you scan?

We have the capability to digitize larger photos or news articles up to 12″ x 17″ and even larger using a multiple scan and digital stitching method. Generally about 24″ x 36″ is the largest size we can digitize, although we can also work with longer more narrow panoramas up to 50″-60″ in length.

Do you need me to put landscape versus portrait photos in the right orientation in a stack of photos I send to you?

We do not require you to orient your photos in a certain way as we will take care of proper rotations in our scanning and editing process.