WEB Technical Info, Links and Photo Scanning Guide

Photo Scanning Guide : Unknown author
Scanning Steps (using Picture Publisher):

(#1) Set dpi (dots per inch) to 72 - 75 dpi (I use 75 dpi, because it's the highest resolution
     that can be seen on a color monitor)
(#2) Adjust size of image (I usually use 100%, unless I want the image to be larger)
(#3) Set Prescan to black & white (it will Prescan faster than color)
(#4) Prescan
(#5) Crop the image of the prescan (put the box exactly around what you want to be in the
     final image).
(#6) Set Scan to color or black & white setting (I usually use color)
(#7) Scan 
(#8) Adjust the gamma (color & brightness control) so that the image is lighter.
(#9) Name your image file (such as: picture.jpg)
(#10) Save to a .jpg image (this compresses the image to its smallest file size)
(#11) That should be it. Now write the file name (picture.jpg) of your image, into your HTML
     and put the .jpg image into the directory and view it on your page using a HTML Editor 
     (I use Picture Publisher).
(#12) If you need to do a final resizing (smaller only) after the above steps, do it with L-view. 
      Determine your final size and use 72-75 dpi resolution before you begin. (Yes, I know
      this requires some planning and control that's sometimes impossible, but you must at least
      try!) Scan your photo at the size you will want.  I scan most of mine at 100% so that the
      final image on screen looks the same size as the photo you scanned. 

Scanning for the Internet. Scan in at 72 - 75 d.p.i. at the size you want it to appear on
screen. I scan most of mine at 100% so that the final image on screen looks the same size
as the photo you scanned. 72-75 d.p.i. is the standard screen resolution for computer
monitors. If you scan at a resolution higher than that, the extra information will merely
result in a larger image on screen (which you will then have to resize). All information
is displayed at the standard screen resolution regardless of the input resolution. 

If you have controls available to you with your scanning software, adjust the gamma to
compensate for any weakness in the brightness. I usually use gamma to make this adjustment,
and go up if the photo is very dark, down if the photo is light. 

I use L-view Pro to adjust the tonal range of the image. Again, the best control to use is
the gamma. It results in less loss of information than other methods. The exact settings you use
will depend on your preference. Just visually look and adjust til you get what looks good. 
Make any other adjustments you feel would improve your image. (With a program like Picture
Publisher, you have many options, but don't overdue it. Remember that most changes are a
compromise--you win something, you lose something.) 

Scanning photos for the web is different than scanning photos to print.  This is an entirely
different can of worms! Many of us are still learning about the in's and out's of on-screen
display for different platforms, monitors, video boards and browsers. Mostly, we're learning
we don't have nearly the amount of control we would like to have over how an image is displayed
by the user. With no guarantees that the user will view the image in the form you intended it,
you might try the method I've been using in Picture Publisher to scan my images and L-view Pro
to edit my images: 
                           Scan at appropriate viewing size at 72 d.p.i 
                                     Adjust gamma 
                                        Sharpen 
                                 Change to indexed image 
                            Choose adaptive palette, with dithering 
            If you choose, bring into L-View or another program to save it in interlaced GIF 89
            format. In some browsers (Netscape, for example), this will allow your image to be
                         displayed with a very nice "venetian blind" effect. 

NOTE: If you are preparing images for inline use, it's a good idea to combine the images on a
single page in your imaging application and develop an adaptive palette (or custom palette) that
includes the color values in all of the art work that will appear on one html page together. This
ensures that you will get the best possible combination of 256 indexed colors to represent your
photos, with minimal dithering. 

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This page copyrighted by Mike Mathews.   LAST UPDATED: July 28,1998