Posts Tagged ‘scrapbooking’

Posted on October 19, 2009 - by Pete Fontaine

Scanning for a Slideshow Project

Everyone has that big box of photos in the back of the closet that’s worth a million and at the same time next to nothing. If you can’t share your photos easily then what good are they? You’ll be surprised to find out that it’s simple and inexpensive to turn your deteriorating images into an enjoyable work of art. There are photo scanning services that can digitize your photos for as little as a nickel apiece. And don’t try this yourself! Photo scanning at home is heart stoppingly boring!

You can build your own slideshow by purchasing software. My favorite is Pro Show Gold by Photodex. This software is relatively simple to use and has lots of features that make the project fun. You just add your photos to the program, then drag them into the order you want. With Pro Show Gold you can edit your photos and color correct, add your own music and then synchronize it to the photos. You can add text to the photo in the location you choose and use the “Ken Burns” effect to zoom from place to place on your images. With Pro Show Gold you can play your slideshow on TV. You’ll be amazed at how good your 4×6 photos look on a 50″ TV.

If you need slideshow freeware you’ll find it on the web. Different free services and software are suitable for different purposes. Some make it easy to create and upload your slideshow to social networking sites. Some are simply slideshow creation software. Spend some time exploring the features that are offered, and always download from a familiar site. Sites like Goggle Picassa, Extra Photo Slideshow Free, and Wildbit software can include music and photo editing capabilities. They may not allow you to show your slideshow on a TV.

You may want to think about placing your slideshow in a digital picture frame. Prices have come down on digital picture frames with some 14″ frames selling for as little as $99. Some of the smaller frames now go for under $25. We expect this trend to continue. With memory card prices also hitting new lows you can afford to put your entire digital photo library on them. Lots of digital frames come with slideshow software installed, and some will play audio. So when your friends come over you can crawl into the back of that closet to dig out the box of gradually fading photos, or you can flip on that beautiful digital picture frame.

Look at some of the online slideshow hosting services. These can help keep friends and family from needing to download and store your slideshows. Sites like Picturetrail and Iwebphoto can make viewing your slideshow easier, especially if you have a lot of images, and allow you to edit, remove, and replace your items at will. Remember to add text to your images to help everyone understand what they are. And then go crazy with special effects. Have fun!

Make sure you choose a photo scanning service that scans at 300 dpi, and don’t pay for more. See if you can find a service that includes automatic photo enhancement at a reasonable price. This can do wonders for some if not all of your images. And be sure to insist on a complete copy of the original scans that have not been rotated, enhanced, or manipulated in any way. Then always make a copy of your master scans to use for anything. Shop around, scanning costs can vary greatly.

Scanning photographs permanently protects them from destruction and loss. Once your images are stored on a DVD and sent to two or three different places you are assured of always being able to retrieve at least one copy. You can generate copies on your computer for the price of a blank DVD to share with your friends and family. Day to day loss of quality is no longer an issue. Your treasured memories are safe and sound.

Don’t fail to include your older photographs in your slide show creations. Pete Fontaine invites you to learn more about photo scanning at his website www.nickelscan.com

Posted on October 17, 2009 - by Pete Fontaine

Finding Low Cost Scanning For Digital Scrapbooking

The art of digital scrapping is soaring in popularity. A quick online search will give you an idea of how many free or low cost tools, templates, and tutorials there are for the taking. It’s easy to find design concepts, creation software, and personalized help. Online scrapbooking chat rooms and communities help with technical information and ideas. It’s never been easier to produce gorgeous custom creations.

Don’t limit yourself to just using just your digital photos. All of your old photos can be sent to a low cost scanning service to be digitized. For as little as a nickel apiece you can add hundreds of your favorite memories to your scrapbook.

Perhaps an even greater benefit of scanning your photos than making them available for your digital scrapbook is protecting them from possible destruction or damage. When a scanning service saves your photos to a DVD it makes it possible to store a duplicate in two or three different locations. This insures their permanent survival, protecting your photographs from natural deterioration and damage from mold and moisture. Scanning to a DVD also allows you to share a set of your pictures with others.

Once you’ve gotten your photos scanned for scrapping you can use them to build photobooks online and upload them to a free photo sharing site to share with your friends. Online businesses that sell photo novelties like cards, calendars, and T-shirts are easy to find and use. With a few services you can even build a slideshow with music that you can view on a TV or on a digital picture frame.

The optimum resolution for scanning your photo prints is 300 dpi. Don’t accept lower and don’t pay for higher. Nothing is gained by scanning at a higher resolution than 300 dpi, and you’ll be handling much larger files. That means any use of the scans will be slower. Do make sure your scans are saved as high quality jpeg files. This means that the scans are saved with very low compression and thus higher quality. You will be able to use free photo editing software to reduce the file size for copy to use on the web, if needed.

Find a photo scanner who offers an inexpensive photo enhancement service. These services can make descent improvements to most of your photos. Don’t pay a lot for this because it won’t perform miracles, and it won’t fix all of the problems. But beware; always enhance a copy of your original scans. Don’t let a photo scanner send just the enhanced scans. Photo enhancement as well as any manipulation or rotation of your scans means they will be recompressed. Repeated recompression means loss of image quality.

The web is loaded with digital scrapbooking accessories, communities, and educational materials. You can find e-books and embellishments of every kind. Put these tools together with scans from an economical photo scanning service and you’re on your way!

Scanning photos for digital scrapbooking permanently protects them from destruction and deterioration. Photo Scanning makes it easy and inexpensive to share a complete copy of your family’s photographic history with each family member. Find out more about photo scanning at Pete’s website www.nickelscan.com