We will send you a small flash drive containing each of your digital photos. We can organize them into individual folders based on instructions you give us. Or, they can simply be filed sequentially within the flash drive, if you do not want separate folders.

The flash drive will be compatible with both a USB-A port and a USB-C port. So it can be used in a variety of devices (that is, a Mac or a PC).

You will receive all of your prints, in the same condition in which we received them. We pride ourselves on taking great care of your prints while we work with them. We know they carry precious memories for you, your family, and your friends. So we handle them with the care with which we handle our own.

Yes. You will receive your digital photos on a flash drive that is compatible with both a USB-A port and a USB-C port. So it can be used in a variety of devices (that is, a Mac or a PC).

We take great care in the handling of your print photos. We know how precious they are to you. Some of the steps we take are:

• Storage in a dry, smoke-free area while your job is in progress.
• Handling with latex gloves to avoid their exposure to human hands (which can deposit oils or finger prints onto your images).
• Individual scanning on a flatbed screener, as opposed to a sheet fed scanner. Sheet fed scanners can sometimes create streaks, on the digital image and on the original print photo itself. And in some occasions, photos can get jammed within sheet fed scanners, resulting in permanent and irreversible damage. We avoid that possibility.
• Constant cleaning and dusting of our equipment, so that your photos are not corrupted, and so your digital photos have no added dust spots.

Not the way that we work. Sheet fed scanners (in which photos are fed from a rolling tray) can sometimes create streaks, on the digital image and on the original print photo itself. And in some occasions, photos can get jammed within sheet fed scanners, resulting in permanent and irreversible damage.

We avoid those possibilities by using flat bed scanners. This process takes more time than a sheet fed scanner. But we use flat bed scanners to maximize quality and eliminate risk.

We suggest you look into some key important details of others’ services. Some of those factors are:

• Type of Scanner. Ask if other services use sheet fed scanners (which can be damaging to your photos, but make the job easier for the company doing the scanning). We use flat bed scanners, which maximize quality and eliminate risk.
• Process. Similarly, do the other services place your photos in large feeder machines that run at a very fast pace? We don’t. We individually manage each of your photos in a safe flat bed scanner that never transports your photos (let alone at a rapid pace). There are two advantages to this:
  • No risk of damage to your photos, like streaking, jamming, crinkling, ripping, etc.
  • Individual review of every single one your digital photos, to control quality. (See below.)
• Personal Touch. Because we individually review every single one of your digital photos, we can maximize quality. For example:
  • We ensure that the cropping of your digital files is the same as the original (no excess border).
  • We ensure the original perspective of your digital photos (no crookedness, unless the original was crooked).
  • Wherever possible, we restore the original coloring and brightness of your photos. If your print photos have yellowed or darkened over time, we can often correct for those processes and restore the original. But it requires individual review of each scan, which we do.
• Accessibility. We love speaking with – and emailing with – our clients. You can reach out to us at any time. If we don’t answer immediately, we respond promptly. Many other services don’t make that commitment.
• DPI. This stands for Dots Per Inch (which is actually pixels per inch with digital photos). We scan at 300 DPI, which we believe is the ideal level ensuring very high quality at an affordable cost. Some of our competitors scan at lower levels of DPI.

If you like, we can scan at a higher level of DPI. But that takes more time to scan, and so the fees are higher. We suggest you tell us which photos you plan to print in enlarged format (like 8×10). For those, we can scan at a higher level. We can scan as high as 1,200 DPI, but we suggest 600 DPI for those photos that you plan to enlarge.

This is a tough question. Yes, we can. However, we suggest you consider a couple of factors:

• Removal from Albums. Your best option is to first remove your photos from the albums, and send us just the print photos. A couple of reasons why:
  • Your cost will be lower, if we have to remove each photo ourselves, the process takes us much longer, and so the fees are higher.
  • Your shipping costs (both from you to us, and then back to you) will be lower, since albums can be heavy.

However, we know you might still choose to send us your albums. We can accommodate that. Keep reading.

• Scanning Album Pages. If we work from your actual albums, we will scan the album page. We do this because it’s safer for your photo prints. If your prints have been stored in albums behind a plastic sheet for many years, they may have become stuck to the plastic. In some cases, peeling back the plastic can lift some of the ink from your photos, and damage them. We don’t want to risk that, so we scan the page, including the plastic cover.

However, you won’t be able to detect the plastic cover in the digital image, and you won’t see a degrading of quality. Also, we will still keep each digital photo from that album page separate. (In other words, we wouldn’t send you a digital file of a full album page containing multiple photos.) If you have overlapping photos on an album page, we’ll make smart judgment calls in how we crop each photo.

This stands for Dots Per Inch (which is actually pixels per inch with digital photos). We scan at 300 DPI, which we believe is the ideal level ensuring very high quality at an affordable cost. Some of our competitors scan at lower levels of DPI.

If you like, we can scan at a higher level of DPI. But that takes more time to scan, and so the fees are higher. We suggest you tell us which photos you plan to print in enlarged format (like 8×10). For those, we can scan at a higher level. We can scan as high as 1,200 DPI, but we suggest 600 DPI for those photos that you plan to enlarge.

Unfortunately, we can’t make a blanket statement for all jobs. The answer depends on how large your job is (number of photos), and how many projects we’re managing at the time. But fortunately, we can give you an accurate time estimate if you call or email us at any time. Please reach out. We love speaking with our clients!

In some cases, yes. More specifically, we can fix the:

• Yellowing of old photos.
• Darkening of old photos.

Over time, those two corruptions can happen with photos, even if they’ve been protected behind plastic covering in albums. We’ll focus on those two aspects, and correct them where possible.

However, our fees don’t include things like removal of stains, corrections of wrinkles or rips, restoration from fading, editing-out of images within a photo, turning black & white to color, etc. Those processes are known as ‘restorative editing,’ and they require time-intensive manipulation of the individual photo. Ours is a scanning service, which primarily is the preservation of your prints into digital files.