Some things to consider when planning your project.

Start to Finish.

Where will we start from?
What do you have to work with? Is it a framed photo, a loose photo, a digital photo file? How big is it?

Where are we going?
What would you like the finished product to be? That could be as simple as just "better", maybe a replacement for a faded print. Or it could be a lot more involved, perhaps an enlarged portrait with changes to the background. How big will it be? How will it be displayed? The finished product you want will affect many of the details of the project.

The journey from here to there is what we do at Doug's Photo Shop. Some of it is predictable, but some aspects of nearly every project are unique.

All Pictures.

In general, the main subject of your picture will be held back away from the edges. It will be in sharp focus and the overall settings will be adjusted for it. The foreground and background will enhance the main subject, not distract from it.

How the picture will be displayed is important. Will it be printed and framed, or shown on a computer display?

A simple trick to help visualize your final image.

Try covering parts of your photo with pieces of paper. Move them around until you 'see' the final image you want.

Start by making two "L"s.

• Lay down a standard sheet of paper. This sheet is just a guide to get square corners.
• Lay down your covering sheets along adjoining sides, overlapping a good amount, and tape them together.
• Do it again.

These will help make your visualization process quick, simple, and accurate! The corners that aren't taped need to be square to each other, (use that 'guide sheet' again), but the whole 'mask' can be rotated relative to the original print. Keep the proportions of the final image in mind. If you have a disposable copy of your photo you can mark it directly! Or, take a picture of the original with the "L"s in place.

Don't worry too much about the measurements, stretching or shrinking the dimensions is quite straightforward. We'll do the math. However, the proportions of the output are fixed. We may need to do some work in the background, but that is part of many projects and should not worry you.

See "More about SIZES and PROPORTIONS" if you'd like more specifics.

Prints.

Prints, when framed, will have a little bit covered all the way around. The main subject needs to be inside of those measurements to avoid cutting off the top of somebody's head! (We can sometimes fix even that, if your source photo already had some unwanted surgery.)

Prints on canvas need to consider the mounting. There are several options. Which you choose makes a difference in the details.

Computer Displays.

Computer displays have changed a lot in the last several years. The introductions of laptops, smart phones, and tablets each made the playing field bigger than it was. Traditional 'desktop' monitors display 72 pixels per inch, older 'high definition' monitors display 96 ppi, and other devices probably something different. By the time you read this the possibilities probably will have changed again! (My current display shows 108 ppi.)

This line is 600 pixels wide. You can measure it with a ruler to calculate your resolution.



Another important factor is the brightness and color settings of your monitor. These can have a huge impact on how an image appears. Careful calibration of your monitor is the only way to get a more-or-less standard result, and a fairly accurate judgement of the files I will be sending to you.

Mats and Frames.

This illustration shows a typical commercial print, with a typical commercial mat, in a typical commercial frame.

Standard dimensions work like this:
Print dimensions (e.g. 8X10 inches) refer to the piece of paper the print is on, or the recess of the frame the image package fits into, or the glass used.

The width of the frame recess is 1/4 inch on all sides, which creates a "window" 1/2 inch smaller than the stated dimensions. Standard mats are also measured to overlap 1/4 inch - so the visible part of an 8X10 print is actually 7-1/2 X 9-1/2 inches, either inside a frame or under a mat.

One final note from the real world: It is virtually impossible to exactly mount a print with a 7-1/2 X 9-1/2 image on a mat with a 7-1/2 X 9-1/2 window so that no background peeks out anywhere. Frames are manufactured and mats cut with tolerances, and gravity will drop a print or a mat-print-backer package to the bottom of the frame recess. Add (or subtract) a bit of "wiggle room" to the image size. You'll be glad you did.

Scans.

Important to Note:

Scanners are designed to focus on documents and photos placed directly on the glass, and that is the preferred way to scan things, but there is some 3-dimensionality in their focus. To get a good scan, it will always be necessary to remove a photo from a frame, but it may not be necessary to remove the photo from a mat that sits between the frame glass and the photo itself. Experiment. If scanning the entire matted photo is too 'soft', try setting a bounding box around just the photo. Doing this may help the scanner to focus on just the important area. A mounting board that the photo is on top of may be left intact. These requirements may destroy the original presentation to an extent you may not be able to restore. Techniques and materials used in preparing the original framed piece vary a lot, but with care you may be able to disassemble the original and reassemble it later. This depends to a great extent on your personal crafting skills. You must decide whether or not the risk of losing the original presentation is worthwhile to you.
    We will not undertake any disassembly / reassembly for you.
Maybe it is a good time to do a fresh presentation?

That said . . .

Prints and negatives have imperfections - dust, scratches, and fingerprints are common. Many times you can't even see them, but the scanner does. They need to be removed. An air blast or possibly a soft brush before scanning can take care of much of this contamination. Rubbing with anything is not recommended because doing so may add scratches worse than whatever is being removed!

Scanners and editting programs have scratch-and-dust filters, but the effect is to soften the entire image, so I don't use them. The alternative is to retouch the imperfections individually or in controlled areas. This gives much better results, but can be time-consuming. It is a consideration in the cost of a project.

If you want significant enlargement:

A high-resolution scan (600 or 1200 dpi) of the original, with built-in filters and adjustments set to 'off', is the preferred starting point for enlargements from prints. The advantage is that this provides the most 'raw' information and requires the least computer 'guesswork'. The downside is that it also picks up more fine dust and other contamination, requiring more retouching. As a rule-of-thumb, a basic scan can be upsized once with good results (4x5 to 5x7, for example), but larger jumps (4x5 to 8x10, etc.) benefit from higher-resolution scans. Of course, the original we would start from is a huge factor as well.

Your 'home office' scanner may give quite satisfactory results. Commercial services are likely also available in your area, at camera stores or office services stores. We do provide scanning services as noted on the "Details" page. We will handle your prints with tremendous care and caution, but the round-trip shipping is an understandable concern. Pack your treasured photos carefully.

So what does all of this mean to you?

The first decision you need to make is the source to be used. Do you have a print or a negative? A print is easier to work from than a negative - there's much less magnification of dust and scratches. Or is it from a digital camera? There's less physical contamination to deal with. Generally, files from digital cameras need the least preparatory work.

You also need to decide how the image will be used. Will it be a framed print, or a portrait for a webpage? How large? How do the desired finished size and proportions work with the source photo?

For the image itself: what needs to be included, and what needs to be left out? Generally, the important picture elements should be a bit back from the edges, with a neutral background around that to "contain" the image, and the viewer's attention.

... and to Your Project?

Your initial request can be quite general or very specific. I do need to know what source you will provide, what your intended use will be, and perhaps some specifics.

A typical request might read:
"I have a 4X6 print I will send for you to scan. I'd like an 8X10 print that I'll mat and put into an 11X14 frame. I also want a copy for my webpage, but not more than 5X7. Can we leave grumpy Aunt Harriet - 3rd from left - out of the final image? I'm attaching a low-quality scan of the print."

Or, "I took this with my phone. How big can I get a decent print?"

That will usually give me enough to Estimate from, and if I have questions, I'll respond with them.