Getting organized: start with
the hard stuff

And so it begins: the first of what looks to be a number of columns on digitally organizing your photos and videos. After much thought, I decided to start with the hard stuff. By hard, I don't just mean difficult. I mean everything you have in hard copy: slides, prints, negatives, film, VHS, Hi8, MiniDV, and probably some old media I've never even encountered. Why start here? A variety of reasons. First, they'll be the most difficult to incorporate into any collection with album or digital asset management (DAM) software, in part because they have no information whatsover attached to them--no EXIF metadata from a digital-camera capture, no time code or date stamp. Also, in many ways, these oddball entries will drive your software needs and the types of info you'll want to track.

Take inventory
Whether you have only a single shoebox full of prints or as much as two closets full of slide carousels, 8mm and 16mm film reels, and sepia photos, you should always start by taking inventory. In order to make informed decisions about how to digitize the various media types, how long it will take, and whether you want to do it yourself, you have to know the extent of the project. You'll need to figure out if any of it has special needs. Are there scratches that will need to be fixed? Is color correction or enhancement needed? Is there special equipment required that you probably don't want to acquire yourself?

Edit, edit, edit
I save everything. I have totally black slides that I swear might be useful for something someday. I don't, however, feel compelled to scan them. Why? Scanning is boring. I'd rather spend five seconds with a loupe and a light table deciding whether I really want a particular photo, rather than spend one minute scanning and saving it, only to discover that it's blurry and not a very flattering photo of great-aunt Ethel, anyway. Since you're not going to throw the originals away--no, you're not--you can always scan it later if you discover that it happens to be the most flattering photo of her available. Furthermore, hard as it is to accept, not all of your photos are worth saving. I can say that after plowing through my father's 40-year-old slides of flowers.

With video, it's easier to perform this type of triage while you're capturing. Unfortunately, if you lack the equipment to view the original--I am not setting up my father's dinosaur film projectors--you'll end up paying for it in either time or money.

Once you've winnowed your mountain down to a molehill, the fun really starts: it's now time to decide which tasks are worth doing yourself and which you're better off sending out to a service.

Film, slides, and negatives: to scan or not to scan
You'd think this one would be a no-brainer. After all, there's no shortage of affordable slide scanners and slide-capable flatbed scanners. But consider: if you don't currently own a scanner, is it worth plopping down several hundred dollars (minimum) for hardware you'll probably never need again, assuming you've stopped shooting film? Even if you plan to load them into a batch feeder, at the very least you'll still have to blow the dust off each one. If you have some medium-format positives, a decent scanner for those can get fairly pricey. And if you've pared your collection down to several hundred of your favorite images, do you really want to spend the hours necessary to digitize them?

Of course, the control-freakish among us, of whom I am the queen, will choose to buy the hardware and do it ourselves. That's the only way to make sure that the scans are done exactly to our specifications. If you fall into my camp, check out our feature, "Five fab photo scanners compared," for some info on what to look for.

The price of sending your slides out to a service bureau can vary widely, depending upon your requirements. It can be relatively cheap for a quick-and-dirty, 24-bit, medium-resolution (say, 2,000 pixels per inch, or ppi) and balloon to GNP-like proportions for a corrected, 16-or 32-bit, high-resolution (say, 4,000ppi) scan. In a casual search, I've seen prices as low as 55 cents per slide and as high as $8. Depending upon your location, you may be able to find local places or might need to do it via the Web.

Regardless of who does the scans, you'll have to decide on a resolution and bit depth. Personally, I like to go for the max on both, simply because I never know what I'm going to need an image for. What if I start reviewing poster printers someday? Furthermore, output technologies are changing so rapidly--who knows if next year will be the year of the Incredibly Large Gamut and High-Resolution Desktop Inkjet? If you strictly plan to display the images, say, on a photo-sharing site, you can get away with a 2,000ppi, 24-bit scan.

When you send your slides and negatives out, you also need to decide whether you'll want color and defect correction, as well as the type of disc (CD or DVD) and the file format. I cannot stress this enough: TIFF. You want TIFF files. TIFF is the most commonly used uncompressed file format, and it supports more bit depths than any other format. Many places will deliver a high-res TIFF file as well as some lower-resolution JPEG versions, which is also good. As long as you have the TIFF file.

Next column, I'll continue with digitizing various formats of video and film.

Have any scary or successful scanning experiences you'd like to share? TalkBack to me below.