Perfect size for scan for slideshow??

[Gritz]

I'm scanning some pictures for a slide show in PictureShow2 and I'm confused about the "best" size to scan my pictures in for the best fit. I have scanned pictures in before at 800 x 600 and most hit the mark in the final output ... however, in some cases I lop off part off a persons head, or cut out someone at the side. So that's wrong. I've read here in this forum that if you scan pictures in for use in Adobe Premiere you should use 720 x 534 as the "perfect size" (as intructed by Adobe). Yet .... isn't legal DVD format size (NTSC) 720 x 480? Wouldn't 720 x 480 be better than 720 x 534? And yet again .... if I'm creating a information slide to add I'm asked to make the slide 768 x 576!!! This IS confusing! Is there a negative for scanning in at 480 x 720? Can someone sort this out???

[akbor75]

the original size of the image doesn't really matter.
i use dvd lab. when i insert photo's (taken at 1600x1200) the program resizes them. no sweat.

[Gritz]

Thanks for the reply. I think it probably matters in some programs and in others it doesn't since they will often do what you say .... resize. However, in some software applications you will lose part of the top, or sides and if that portion is part of a person anatomy then it's not what you want. If it's scenery then it wouldn't be as important or as noticeable. In my own case my wife has noticed several times that she's not in the picture, or cut in half. (At the side) :^) so I hadn't used the correct dpi for that picture ... and also, since I often want only a small part of the picture I will scan in for that portion only, ie; if I only want the persons head (as in a portrait pic) then I will measure that part and scan for the appropriate dpi. If that part is 1" square then I will scan somewhere around 600 dpi and crop the portion that I want. I'm thinking that Premiere probably doesn't resize for the final output and PS2 does .... I'm wanting my slideshow pictures to cover the entire TV screen without chopping into the subject matter I want shown, and yet reduce the black bars at the side and top as much as possible, so it seems that the more precise I can get with my scan initially the better chance I will have in achieving that. I just did a test run of a single picture resized 3 times .... one at 720 x 480, one at 768 x 576, and the last one at 720 x 534, dropped these three into PictureShow2, and burned to a test DVD-R, and brought up on my TV. The size that revealed the best comparison of the original photo was the 720 x 480. I haven't yet tried this in Premiere and I suspect it will be different. Any ..... and I've been rambling on .... I have a project that is around 1,000 photos so I'm trying to be as precise in the beginning so I don't have to return and scan a lot of the pictures again.

[tonx]

why scan photos at 600dpi when a TV screens resolution is generally about 80dpi?

[gizmofanv]

There is a feature in DVDPS2 called 'fit to screen' (if i'm correct), this will adjust the size of the image. I made several of these picture vcd with DVDPS2, never had any problems. All the pictures were scanned at 300dpi and with approxmately at 1830x1400, DVDPS2 adjusted the images to fit TV perfectly.

Good Luck!

[Gritz]

tonx,
If my original photo was 6" high and I scanned at 100dpi, then that picture would fit vertically on my TV. (6" x 100 = 600). If my original photo is 1" high then I have to scan at 600dpi to fill the same TV screen. 1" x 600dpi = 600. 600 high x 800 wide is rough .... 534 x 720 would be more accurate. If I scanned my 1" picture at only 100dpi and THEN blew it up to fit the TV it would be terribly blocky and not very clear. I know that many programs resize automatically .......... but if I do not take into consideration the approximate file size actually needed and save all my pictures on the hard drive at these high resolutions then I'm wasting an excessive amount of hard drive space .... and a lot! Therefore I'm trying to keep the size down to what's actually needed.

[tonx]

i see, nice one,
i'd been pondering over this myself,wondering what dpi to scan at
for dvd-slideshows.you just cleared that one up for me.cheers.
MAJIX photos on cd & dvd delux is a great prog for creating
slideshows (auto resize too),& is cheap to buy.

scanned my pics in at 300dpi (following someones advice) and
they all look great on the tv screen (with auto resize on)