New to scanning, retouching...

therookie · #1 05-03-2006, 02:30 PM

So i had my first post the other day:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13282

And now i have some questions on scanning:

Does it do you any good to scan at higher than 300dpi for pictures? When the image is scanned in, it is larger than what it is in real life so when i start to work on it, should i lower the size to something more resembling its actual size or work on the larger version?

I bought this scanner...
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1118842671367
...but think it may be a bit more than i need and was wondering if I would just be ok with the 3490 or the 3590? (since you only scan at 300 dpi?) I'm starting to have buyers remorse on spending an extra 150$! (had a good salesman talk me into it though...) :$
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....sortfilter.jsp

Thanks in advance for this and my grandpa expresses his thanks in advance when i get the photos restored...

familytreephoto · #2 05-03-2006, 04:25 PM

Hey - I dont know about CS2's print options but in Paint Shop Pro when you resize there's a thing that says "print size" and has h/w options. Its better to work on higher resolution as you have more to work with. I personally do everything I scan in at 600dpi - My computer can't handle more than that. (patiently waits for more money to get her mac). also - if you plan on blowing the picture up (and i dont mean with TNT), you want to scan in higher so it doesn't get so pixelated. I'm not sure what the ratios are but I'm sure someone else here will stop in and enlighten us.

good luck, and enjoy your new hobby.

Caitlin · #3 05-03-2006, 04:42 PM

You've bought a very nice scanner there. The extra DPI, and the digitalICE will really only be of major use to you scanning transparencies, slides and negs. digitalICE is miraculous on colour transparencies/slides.

Quote:

Does it do you any good to scan at higher than 300dpi for pictures? When the image is scanned in, it is larger than what it is in real life so when i start to work on it, should i lower the size to something more resembling its actual size or work on the larger version?

Not sure exactly what you mean here. If you mean it appears larger on the screen, that is because screen resolution (dpi/ppi) is lower than print resolution. You should always work on a high resolution original. If you want your final print to be larger than the original, then you can scan at greater than 300dpi, though the improvement in quality will not be enormous.

therookie · #4 05-03-2006, 05:52 PM

What i meant was, should i be scanning in at 300dpi or higher? I scanned at the highest setting and got a huge file (6000 x 3000 ish pixels and 70 meg tiff file).

The other part was should i retouch the photo without resizing the scanned image? (When scanned at 300dpi it is actually bigger than the pic is so i didnt know if i should shrink it back down and work with it then...)

My question on the scanner was should i return the mega machine i got and get one of the lower end epsons and if there would be a huge quality difference...

Thanks for responding!

PeteyB · #5 05-03-2006, 07:19 PM

This is a great site about scanning. I found it to be very helpful.

http://www.scantips.com/

therookie · #6 05-03-2006, 11:41 PM

hey that is a good site, thanks pete!

Caitlin · #7 05-04-2006, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by therookie

What i meant was, should i be scanning in at 300dpi or higher? I scanned at the highest setting and got a huge file (6000 x 3000 ish pixels and 70 meg tiff file).

300dpi is all you need if you are scanning a print, unless you want to enlarge it when you print it out again. But 6000x3000 isn't all that huge - approx 50x25cm printed at 300dpi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by therookie

The other part was should i retouch the photo without resizing the scanned image? (When scanned at 300dpi it is actually bigger than the pic is so i didnt know if i should shrink it back down and work with it then...)

You shouldn't be resizing the image - you want all those pixels to work on. Scan and maintain the file at the resolution you want to work at, or output at (which ever is larger!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by therookie

My question on the scanner was should i return the mega machine i got and get one of the lower end epsons and if there would be a huge quality difference...

If you are only ever going to be scanning prints or documents - and not transparencies of negs, then yes you could probably trade down to a lower model. All the Epson machines are pretty nice, even the cheaper ones.

Bob2006 · #8 05-04-2006, 12:45 PM

It depends on what kind of image you are scanning and what you intend to do with the scan. If you are scanning a color photo, 300 ppi is likely adequate especially if you intend to make a print either using an ink jet printer, or using a service bureau. If you are scanning an old black and white photo for restoration I suggest scanning at 600 ppi or even higher. Old black and white prints were probably produced using contact printing, and sometimes contain a lot more detail than do modern color prints especially if printed from large negatives. Of course if you are scanning transparencies or negatives you'll want to scan at very high ppi.

Bob

therookie · #9 05-04-2006, 08:32 PM

excellent, thanks for the replies!