Having your old Family photos or other photos, touched up or restored has lots of advantages. Firstly it saves them from further deterioration and preserves them for future generations. You can scan them yourself if you are confident enough to digitize them. Sending your photos to Past Colours for restoration and colourization has advantages over trying it on your own. We have state of the art scanning capabilities, suitable for extremely powerful and clear scanning.
Scanners:
Always aim to use the best flatbed scanner you can: such as a higher end Epson:
- Epson Perfection V850 Professional
- Epson Perfection V550
- Epson Perfection V600
Firstly: Place your photos on a clear scanning surface, make sure it is spotlessly clean, no dust or marks on the glass ( clean with a quality glass cleaner and ensure there are no smudges, dust or specks) lower the lid, and use scanning software on the machine or your PC to complete the scanning process and upload the image.
Higher end scanners produce excellent results, however there can be some disadvantages with these type of machines, if you only have a few photos to scan.
- They can be expensive. Some printers come with built-in scanners, but the quality will vary. Standard MFP machines are designed to do several things to a price rather than a standard.
- Scanning photos with a flatbed scanner is a time-consuming process when you have many photos to process.
Most people look for a multi-function machine to service their varying needs, nearly all multifunction printers (MFPs) include a flatbed scanner that can scan photo prints and other material. The software and mechanics of these machines fall well short when scanning photos to a quality that is required for higher end photo restoration.
If your only option is a MFP (multi-function flat-bed scanner and printer device), ensure you scan each photo at a minimum of:
- 600 dpi (min) higher if possible; up to 1000 dpi.
- Scan in Colour, even Black and White Photos, as we can pick up variances that can be obscured when scanning in grayscale
If your photos are in an album or inside protective clear plastic, it is always better to remove them for scanning as the results will always be better. Having said that sometimes it may not be possible to remove photos as they may be stuck and removing them may damage them. We can achieve amazing results with our scanners, so we recommend sending your photos in their plastic sleeves to us for scanning.
If this is not possible either, ensure your flat-bed glass is clean and dry, try to make sure your photo in protective sleeve is as flat as possible, this may mean you might need to put a book or similar on top of the cover of the scanner to keep pressure on the photo to remain flat and scan at the recommended settings.
You can also have your local office works store scan the images for you,but be aware that you should monitor how the photos are handled, before, during and after the scan. Never leave your photos to be scanned later. If your photos are not perfectly flat, ask the staff to place a heavy object onto the lid to ensure a flat surface.
You’ll need a USB stick or a SD memory card to have the photos transferred to.
Remember it’s best to have a higher dpi scan (Dots per inch) 1,000-1,200 dpi
Or a minimum of 600 dpi, scan in colour.
If sending your Original Photos or Memory sticks to us, we recommend Registered Post, We will return them via registered post to you at your expense to ensure they are tracked from the moment they are sent to the moment they are received.
Always pack your photos with heavy card protecting them from being bent. Ensure you have at least 25 mm(1″) extending around the card for protection
Upload your images to our site via our upload link or We Transfer www.wetransfer.com
