I am planning to include at least one CD with the next edition containing good images of certificates. I think collectors would love to see images of scare and rare certificates. I would also like to include images that illustrate minor differences between varieties.

How good should the images be? A good rule-of-thumb is that scans should be good enough to read printers' names.

Scanning suggestions.

• Scan in full color
• Scan against a white background
• Minimum resolution 150 pixels per inch
• No reduction (see note 1)
• Scan entire certificates with full borders
• Turn auto-exposure OFF
• Turn automatic sharpening OFF
• Turn automatic color adjustments OFF

Do NOT scan

• stubs
• coupons
• backs

Hints for scanning certificates too large for your scanner

• Scan in two or more pieces
• Always keep the same orientation for all the pieces
• Scan with at least 1" of overlap between pieces
• Remove the lid of the scanner for delicate certificates
• Try scanning VERY delicate certificates in holders
• Send the pieces (I will patch together)

Save format

• JPG or JPEG. Save at level 3 or 4. No need for anything better.
• TIF (much larger files)
• (Users of HP scanners, see note 2)

How to send

• If sending a few JPGs, send as e-mail attachments (no need to Zip)
• If sending TIFs or several JPGs, send on a CD

Deadline: August, 2006.

Note 1

Many people think they are sending high resolution images, when in fact they are not. This is because they reduced their images while scanning.

For illustration, imagine a stock certificate is 10" wide, and is scanned at 150 dpi. The resulting image will be be 1500 pixels wide.

However, if the certificate is reduced 50% during scanning, the resulting image will be only 5" wide. Even if the image is saved at 200 dpi, the image will only be 1000 pixels wide. In other words, one-third of the original scanning information is lost.

Note 2

JPG images are highly compressed and make small files. The smaller the file, the greater the compression. The way the JPG format achieves small file sizes is by discarding repetitive information. (TIFs, BMPs, and several other formats save all information.)

Getting rid of repetitive information is not all bad. That is what allows you to view pictures on the web without waiting hours for images to download.

But, here is where the problem arises.

Not all software saves JPGs in the same manner. I have found that the better the software (Photoshop, for instance), the better the resulting JPG images. Cheaper software (even a well-known software whose name I won't mention) does a poor job.

The software included with many low-cost scanners does NOT do well when saving JPGs. Regrettably, I have found the scanning software supplied with the current generation of HP scanners (HP Director) is not among the best. In my opinion, the older HP scanning software (Precision Scan Pro) is better.

The workaround? Save your images out of your scanner as TIFs. Then, convert them to JPGs. It takes longer, but it is worth the effort. I scan a few thousand images each month, and I'd love to save the time. But, saving as JPGs straight out of my HP scanners is unacceptable.