I am totally new to computer scrapbooking and have a few questions that hopefully someone can answer. Sorry if these are totally stupid!

First- When you scan in your pics to use, what size picture is best to scan (8x10, 5x7, etc..)? What size is generally used in computer scrapbooking.

Second- If I scan in a wallet size pic, can I set the scanner settings to make it an 8x10 size?
The reason for this question is because I am interested in using a certain picture as the background on a LO and it is a wallet size pic. To use a pic as my background- do I need to scan in an 8x10 for this to work? I know you can streach the photo using the deformation tool (I use PSP), but I don't want it to look distorted.

Third- When I have scanned in a pic, what file type should I save it in? Do I save the LO in the same file type when I am finished?

Anyway, thanks for any help!!

Hi Kathi

best size to scan is at least as big as the biggest possible use. So if you scrap 8x10 and you might use teh pic at full size scan at 8 x 10 and always at 300dpi

With my scanner ( an old Scanjet4100C HP) you can scan and then readjust the scan size to make a wallet size as 8x10 or whatever using image options. You need to do this when you scan though to get the best result (within your scanner)

As for file type most people prefer TIFF i believe as its compression free ..its what I use as well
and whne you save your layout save at least one copy in teh native format as the master or original copy and then you can also save copies at whatever format you want eg .jpg for sharing on line or tif or png to send for printing

Hope that helps : )

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I would just like to add to make sure and scan at 300 dpi at LEAST. That will give you high quality prints. I even scan at 600 dpi just my preference -- that way you can always reduce. You can't go the other way --

And I agree w/shelly, make sure to save to tiff or something that won't lose quality like jpg. each program has their own standard and it's best to always save a copy in their format for later manipulation (native format like shelley said). You won't lose any quality from opening and closing the file that way.

After you manipulate the photo, then change the file name and save it to whatever format you like -- jpg for sharing --

that way the original file is always preserved.

Hope that made sense i tend to run at the keys and just type random words!!!