robertdfeinman
Robert Feinman
You should scan at a multiple of the scanner resolution, otherwise it has to interpolate in the scanner software. This has less flexibility than in an editor program. It will also mean the scans go more quickly.
You should aim so that the scans are not clipped at either brightness end. I don't know about the software that came with your scanner, but many included packages are not very good.
You should save as TIFF if you are going to edit in Photoshop. If you are going to do large amounts of contrast, brightness or color balance changes and if your scanner software permits it, you might want to try saving as 16 bit per channel files. This will make them twice as big, so it may not be what you wish. Some people claim not to see a difference between 8 bit and 16 bit editing. You will have to try it yourself and see.
After you do large scale color and brightness changes you can covert to 8 bit for saving and printing.
I suggest sharpening twice. The first time is to compensate for the losses caused by the scanner. This might be a radius of 1-4 pixels depending upon the real resolution of the scanner. My Epson "4800" dpi scanner requires about a 4 radius while my Minolta 5400 dpi scanner requires little or no sharpening (1 pixel radius at most).
After you finish your editing you do your final resizing which can include sharpening as well. I find the Photoshop resize-sharper option works well for this purpose.
I have some scanner tips on my web site which may help you as well. The scantips web site is mostly mathematically based, while I try to give hints which are more aimed at photographers and their visual expectations.
Save the files after editing in Photoshop format. Jpg files are really best only for web display and emailing.
You should aim so that the scans are not clipped at either brightness end. I don't know about the software that came with your scanner, but many included packages are not very good.
You should save as TIFF if you are going to edit in Photoshop. If you are going to do large amounts of contrast, brightness or color balance changes and if your scanner software permits it, you might want to try saving as 16 bit per channel files. This will make them twice as big, so it may not be what you wish. Some people claim not to see a difference between 8 bit and 16 bit editing. You will have to try it yourself and see.
After you do large scale color and brightness changes you can covert to 8 bit for saving and printing.
I suggest sharpening twice. The first time is to compensate for the losses caused by the scanner. This might be a radius of 1-4 pixels depending upon the real resolution of the scanner. My Epson "4800" dpi scanner requires about a 4 radius while my Minolta 5400 dpi scanner requires little or no sharpening (1 pixel radius at most).
After you finish your editing you do your final resizing which can include sharpening as well. I find the Photoshop resize-sharper option works well for this purpose.
I have some scanner tips on my web site which may help you as well. The scantips web site is mostly mathematically based, while I try to give hints which are more aimed at photographers and their visual expectations.
Save the files after editing in Photoshop format. Jpg files are really best only for web display and emailing.
