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How to Batch Scan Multiple Photos with Borders

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Many photos have borders that were added during the printing process.  When batch scanning multiple photos, with photo scanning software, many of us want to preserve the photo image and the border.  It's a common practice to write pieces of information in the photo's border to give the context of the photo; such as: the date the photo was taken, who is in the photo, what is happening in the photo, or where the photo was taken.  Since the border is an artifact of the printing process and not the photo itself, how can we scan both the photo's image and scan the photo's border together using software designed for photo scanning?   

 
 

By default, ScanSpeeder (click here to learn how to download) scans the image of the photo; hence, the photo itself.  The border, which is sometimes added when a photo is printed, is not actually a part of the image so we created a feature to allow the easy scanning of a photo's border, called, the Auto Expand feature.  Therefore, when scanning many photos that have borders in batches, we recommend the use of this feature to capture both the image and the border with its written contents.  In addition, many people add a caption to the photo such that the detail in the border is also digitally embedded with the photo.   This means the details in the border can be preserved visually with the image itself and embedded digitally.

In the examples below, I show step-by-step how to batch scan several photos with borders of the same size and how to scan many photos in a batch that have borders of a different size.  

 

How to Scan Multiple Photos with Borders in Batches:

Batch Scan Multiple Photos with Borders

These photos were scanned directly from the photo album into ScanSpeeder.  Notice that, by default, the image that will be scanned in both photos is highlighted green. Considering that each photo is the same size and has the same border, I will use the Auto Expand feature in Step 1 to make the area that is scanned a bit larger.  This will allow the scanning of both photos, capturing both of the photos' images and the photos' borders, with the hand-written comments.  Let me show you.

 

How To Scan Multiple Photos with Borders that are the Same Size - within a batch

Please Note: This method is most useful when you have all the same sized photos and borders within a batch.  

 

1 - Open Auto Detection Settings

  • Click the gear icon to open the "Auto Detection Settings".  

 

2 - Use Auto Expand %

  • Click the UP arrow in the "Auto Expand %" box to increase the size of the area to be scanned.  In this example, I want to scan many photos with borders that are relatively small, so I will click the "up arrow" until it reaches 4%.

 

3 - Click Detect

  • Click the Detect icon.  

How to Scan Multiple Photos with Borders of Same Size

Scanning Area of Several Photos Expanded

The result is a slighter larger green highlighted border around both the image and the border.  Notice that the hand-written comments in the bottom of the border are now within the area of scanning for both photos.  Repeat steps 1 to 3 until you have the photos highlighted capturing the border just on its outside edge.  Once you know the amount to expand by, you can use this for all further scans of photos that are also the same size.  

Please note: if your next batch of photos are different sizes, click the "default" button to the right of the Auto Expand arrows to return the auto detection settings to 0 in prep of scanning more photos.  Only do this when you are finished scanning photos of this size as you only need to set Auto Expand once and it will keep scanning at this size until you change it back to default.  

 

4 - Scan like Usual

  • Now I scan like I always do with ScanSpeeder by clicking the "Extract Photos" button in the software's "Step 2 - Extract Photos & Preview Area". Notice in the screen shot below,  I simultaneously scanned both photos capturing both the image and the border with its hand-written comments.  I also typed in the details into the "Captions Field" such it will be digitally embedded with the photo. I can continue scanning photos of this size without having to change any settings because the Auto Expand feature will retain as its set until I return it to default.    

Scan Multiple Photos

 

What if you want to scan photos with borders that are  DIFFERENT sizes and/or have DIFFERENT borders?  Here we go!

 

How to Scan Multiple Photos with Borders that are Different in size - within a batch

 

Notice in the screen show below where I used photo scanning software, ScanSpeeder, to batch scan several photos all-at-once.  The photos are different sizes and have different sized borders.  ScanSpeeder detected all the images but I want to scan both the image and the border. 

Scan Photos of Different Sizes and Borders

 

1 - Select Photos

  • Considering that I have two photos of the same size on the left of my scanned photo album page, I will hold the Ctrl key on my keyboard and then use my mouse to click on the two photos that are the same size.  This changes the green highlight around the photos to blue.  

 

 

2 - Expand Area to be Scanned 

  • Click the + button to expand the area to be scanned on the selected photos.  Continue clicking the + button until the blue highlighted boxes are just slightly outside the perimeter of the selected photos as shown in the screen shot below.  

Batch scan photos with different borders

 

3 - Select More Photos

  • To expand the photos on the right, I will select them individually and click the + button until the blue highlighted border is on the edge of the photo's perimeter.  Notice in the screen shot below, the perimeter of each photo's border is highlighted indicating that the area to be scanned is both the image and the border.  I am now ready to scan all four photos, and let ScanSpeeder automatically split each photo into a separate file (both .jpg and .tiff simultaneously) for saving.  

 

Scanning Area of Several Photos Expanded

 

4 - Extract Photos

The final step is to simply click "Extract Photos" to batch scan, automatically split, and separate each photo into its own individual file; both .jpg and .tff simultaneously.  

Photos split and separated into files

 

Our final result - We batch scanned multiple photos of different image sizes and different borders capturing all the printed and hand-written details. Each photo was split and separated into its own file ready to be saved in both .jpg and/or .tiff format simultaneously.  I can continue batch scanning my photos using both the Auto Expand feature for batches of photos with borders of the same size and the + button for batches of photos with different sizes.  

| Categories: How To, Features | Tags: photo with border, auto expand, caption | View Count: (17291) | Return

Comments

  • I just tried to scan one larger and four small photos at a time. I selected 600 dpi and both JPEG and TIFF formats. The larger photo only scanned to around 850 kb and the smaller photos to around 250 kb. The TIFF photos seem to be large in size as expected. Is there something I specified incorrectly? Thanks.
    1/11/2020 3:21:14 PM Reply
    • @Anne Fleming: Hello Anne. JPEG format is a lossy compression that results in various smaller file sizes depending on the image data and some loss of image data due to high compression ratio. JPEG is suitable for sending to people, slideshows, digital photo frames, etc.. The TIFF format however is lossless in ScanSpeeder and can result in very large file sizes as you have seen. TIFF is suitable for archiving, editing and printing. So what you are seeing is normal. Both formats have the same resolution (pixels wide by pixels tall). You can get larger file size (not larger resolution) for the JPEG format by increasing the JPEG quality under the Tools menu > Options. This has no effect on resolution or pixel count. If you are looking to increase the resolution or number of pixels scanned, you would need to increase the DPI setting when scanning. Unless your photos are very small, anything over 600 dpi is probably overkill. I hope this helps.
      1/13/2020 10:56:15 AM Reply
  • Want to scan old photos but need a large space to type in who they are, dob, siblings, etc. Don't know if this software will do that. Please advise.
    9/25/2016 2:47:55 PM Reply
    • @Debbie: Thank you for asking! Yes - ScanSpeeder has a large space to type in the who, what, where, dob, etc. of the photo. After you scan the photo, there is a Caption Field that allows 500 characters. The caption is permanently embedded in the photo as the photo's title. This text is also searchable which means it is tagged to your photo so you can easily find it later. For more details on how to add a caption refer to this article: http://scanspeeder.com/blog/articleid/16/digital-photos-how-to-add-a-caption
      9/26/2016 11:50:37 AM Reply

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