How to scan art, fabric or color photos for 35mm color slides

Anything that can be scanned on a flatbed scanner can be printed to 35mm color slide film. You can scan your artwork, quilts, needlepoint, jewelry, color photos, black and white photos, etc. and we can print color slides from the image files.

First, measure the size of the object to be scanned.  It’s dimensions will help to determine the DPI (dots per inch) setting you need to pick when you scan.

  • If your art or photo measures 4×6 inches, then scan at 750 DPI.
  • If your art or photo measures 5×7 inches, then scan at 600 DPI.
  • If your art or photo measures 8×10 inches, then scan at 375 DPI.
  • These combinations of the DPI and the size will ensure you receive the best color slides you can produce from your scans.
  • Crop the image as close to the art or photo as you like. When we print the image we print it at 95% of it’s possible size so none of your image is cropped by the plastic slide mounts.
  • Save your resulting images as a maximum quality JPG file with minimal compression or save them as a TIF file using LZW compression. All of the files should be in the RGB color mode and not CMYK color mode since we’re not printing on paper with ink.

By George

I earned a BA in Photography from The Ohio State University and I've been producing slides with film recorders since 1996 when a 14.4 baud phone modem was "high speed Internet!" I've also scanned slides and negatives since then. Slides are my life!