How to Organize / Prepare your Photos, Slides and Negatives for Scanning – San Francisco Bay Area

Please use the tips below to prepare your photos, slides, and negatives for image scanning at AV Workshop.

Please print clearly and not in cursive
Avoiding smudges by using a permanent marker when writing on plastic bags
Write a #1 on the slide or back of a photo that you want to start the order
Separate your photos, slides, and negatives into envelopes, ziploc bags, or use index cards before each new section in a box
Rubber band your slides into stacks of approx 50. Please do not band them too tightly as they may warp.

Photo Scanning

The best way to organize your pictures and photos is to put them in envelopes, ziploc bags or a box with index cards before each new section. We will scan them in that order and create a new folder for each bag or section labelled according to the concise words provided. Ex; Africa 1989, Tahoe 1990, etc… Please print clearly. We ask that you remove photos from any albums and stack them in the order you desire. A great way to log where each photo came from is to mark the back of each photo and the album with a number 2 pencil. You can name each photo as 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, etc… Thus, you know that these photos belong to album 1. If the photos are stuck and cannot be removed, we can scan them from the albums and crop into separate images. Please call or bring in for an estimate.

Slide Scanning

Please rubber band your slides into stacks of approx 50. If you wish to have your slides organized in a specific order, please indicate which is the 1st slide by writing a “1” on the cardboard sleeve (or note-paper) that you want to start the order. Continue by writing a “2” on the 2nd stack letting us know this is the 1st slide of the 2nd stack and so on…. We will scan the slides in this order top to bottom. If you would like to have separate folders created based on different batches of slides, please put them in different zip-locks, or boxes with the batch label info printed out. We will create a unique folder per batch in the order you specify. Please note, a setup fee may apply if the slides are different thicknesses within the same batch / stack.

Negative Scanning

You can provide your negatives in their original envelopes, sheets / binders. Also, you can take your negatives out of their original sleeves and put them in ziploc bags for us.

If you would like to have separate folders created based on the various envelopes or sheets, please provide the label info neatly printed out. We will create a unique folder per envelope in the order you specify.

While preparing / organizing your photos, slides and negatives does have its advantages, it is not mandatory. The only penalty is a small extraction fee for not removing slides from carousels or not removing photos from albums. If they are not organized in your preferred chronological order, your photos, slides, and negatives will be organized and scanned by date, where possible, by our technicians.

Photo Scanning