Cleaning photographs

Kevin_rc_ie

I want to scan my photographs onto my computer. Does anyone else do this?
Things like dust etc. are showing up very clearly on the scans and i was wondering what is the best way to clean them up without damaging them. I was in a few shops in dublin trying to find some "wipes" for this but they don't seem to exist. All they had is lens cleaning materials. What should I do to clean them and improve their quality.

Also, any one any hints / tips on things like resolution and file type for the scaans?

impr0v

This may be a stupid question, but have you cleaned the scanner glass?

Kevin_rc_ie

yes

DotOrg

you could repeat the final step of paper developing and gently rinse the photos (once they're not too old) in a lukewarm clean basin of water with just a tiny touch of a washing up liquid in it. you should use a final rinse solution from a camera shop like Gunns on wexford street if you are doing lots of photos.

once rinsed, leave the photos to dry by hanging them up in a very dust free room like a bathroom.

do this with one photo first to test that you're doing the method right before you go ruining loads of photos and blaming me.

RicardoSmith

Some scanners and scanner software has the ability to clean this up.

DotOrg

it will always be better to scan a clean print to start with though as scanner software can only guess the best way of fixing a scan

RicardoSmith

DotOrg wrote:

it will always be better to scan a clean print to start with though as scanner software can only guess the best way of fixing a scan

I'd have thought its also better use a neg scanner than scan the photograph itself. Depends on how good the finished scan needs to be really.