Improve the quality of your scanned photos

When it comes to digitising your old family photographs – whether to preserve or share – the scanning process is critical. You need to capture as much detail from the original as possible, but that’s not always possible with the free scanning software supplied with your scanner.

This is where VueScan comes to the rescue. Although primarily designed to keep old, obsolete scanners working in newer versions of Windows and the Mac operating system (see hamrick.com/vuescan/supported-scanners.html for a comprehensive list of supported models), it works brilliantly with the latest models too, and provides a more comprehensive set of tools to help you maximise the quality of your scanned photos.

To get started, download and install the latest trial version from hamrick.com – if prompted during setup, click ‘Install’ to add the Hamrick driver. Once done, launch the program and follow the step-by-step guide. The trial version places a watermark on all scanned images – buy a licensed copy to remove it (see hamrick. com/purchase-vuescan . html for pricing).

1 CHOOSE COLOUR OR GREYSCALE Place your photo(s) on your scanner flatbed and launch VueScan. Click the ‘Options’ dropdown menu and choose ‘Standard’ to access more tabs and settings. Next, click the ‘Media’ dropdown button and choose ‘Gray’ if your photo is black and white or sepia-tinted.

2 SET INPUT RESOLUTION Set the ‘Scan resolution’ dropdown to 300 dpi to scan the photo at its normal size, or 600 dpi to double the size (useful for smaller 3x2 photos). You can experiment with higher-resolution settings for greater magnification, but you’re ultimately restricted by the quality of the original photo.

3 FINAL SETUP TWEAKS Use the ‘Default folder’, ‘File type’ and ‘File name’ fields to set your output folder and file type (JPEG is best for photos). Set ‘Preview resolution’ to 300 dpi to make your proposed tweaks easier to review. Finally, click ‘Preview’ and wait for the preview scan to complete.

4 SELECT PHOTO Click and drag around the photo to select it – VueScan will automatically apply its auto-fix tool to that part of the scan, which should improve it immediately. Now switch to the ‘Cropped area’ tab to view it up close. Use the magnification buttons beneath the preview to zoom in further.

5 BASIC FIXES Switch to the ‘Filter’ tab to experiment with several quick-fix improvements – tick the box next to one and the preview will update to show its effect (untick it to remove it). Users of the software’s Professional Edition can click ‘Options+’ to reveal additional ‘Grain reduction’ and ‘Descreen dpi’ controls.

6 IMPROVE LIGHTING You’ll have noticed that the photo’s lighting was automatically improved the moment you cropped into it. Further adjustments can be made via the ‘Color’ tab. Click ‘Color balance’ and select ‘Manual’, then adjust the ‘Black point’, ‘White point’ and ‘Brightness’ sliders to fine-tune the lighting further.

7 MORE ADVANCED IMPROVEMENTS Professional Edition users can click the ‘Options+’ button again to reveal more controls – in particular, focus on the ‘Curve low’ and ‘Curve high’ sliders to adjust the brightness and contrast further. Click ‘Default options’ at any point to reset back to the original default settings.

8 IMPROVE COLOUR PHOTOS Key things to look for when scanning in old colour photos are the ‘Restore colors’ option under ‘Filters’, and the advanced brightness-adjustment tools for individual adjustments under the ‘Color’ tab. Use the latter to correct colour imbalances or tweak colour temperature.

9 SCAN, SAVE AND REVIEW Once you’re happy with your photo, click the ‘Scan’ button. After it’s been scanned, you’ll be prompted to save it, at which point it’ll be opened in your default image viewer. Review the picture, and if necessary make further adjustments in VueScan before scanning a fresh copy.