It seems that one of the most common task people use computers for aside from sending email and writing papers for school is for working with digital cameras or photographs. The confusion that stems from the complex nature of images has caused many people to just give up, frustrated by the computer and unwilling to use it any further. The fact of the matter is that images on the computer are complex but they are not impossible.

I am going to write a short series on working with images on the computer.

Scanning Woes

Of course when taking your photographs into the digital age you would naturally want to “scan” the photos into the computer. Turning real life developed photographs into digital pictures which you could then email or use in a powerpoint presentation.

The secret to scanning pictures without dealing with technology

Scanners offer a plethora of problems. Every scanner comes with its own software that is a pain to use and never quite works right. Even as a computer technician I feel like scanning is an unfair curse from the computing world. So when I want to scan in photos I don’t use my own scanner. Instead I take the photos to walmart or costco or a similar store that provides a scanner for me to use. I use their scanner and scan in the images and put them on a CD. Generally this only costs a few dollars and is often easy enough to the point where it is well worth the trip to do the scanning.

If you MUST use your own scanner

If you feel that you must use your own scanner then I recommend that you use the software that came with the scanner. Often it can scan and save images directly without having to deal with other third party software.
Other software you could use would be programs like Photoshop or Microsoft Word. Then often include scanning functionality under File -> Import (or their own import menu.)

Generally, I recommend against using your own scanner unless you have had a techie set it up for you and then train you on how to use it. Scanners are simple, yet the software that makes them work is so bad they are more often than not, not worth the effort to make them work. So go buy from Walmart or another similar store and save yourself some gray hair!

God Bless,
-Daniel Kolansky