I've just started trying to learn Photoshop. From everything I've read, it seems that no matter what your finished output for the picture may be, it is best to scan using the highest possible resolution your scanner can produce and saving the image as a .tiff file so you can work with as much of the color information as possible when starting your editing process. This is producing some very large files. My question is this: am I understanding this correctly? My scanner can scan at 1200 dpi and when I save a picture as a .tiff file, the file size can be off the charts. Am I understanding this part of the process correctly?

You have the TIF part understood correctly, but there's no point in scanning prints any higher than 600ppi, and large prints (8x10 and up) at half that. You're probably even safe at lower levels, but that's what I use.

I might scan a wallet-sized photo at higher rez, but not because there's any more detail to be had, but rather because it will prevent softening due to resampling later on.

Hi AtlanaAnna,

For your help you can use a scanning resolution calculator:

http://www.image-access.net/calc/index.html

Thank you both! And I'm really excited about trying the resolution calculator. What a great tip!