tips and tricks

A reminisart a unique gift of a large, easy-to-apply family photo wall art for your mom, dad or grandparent living in care. Each reminisart is created using photographs of their favourite people and special places. The quality of the digital files of the photographs you upload will allow us to create beautiful, clear prints. Below are some tips on how to scan physical photographs into large high-resolution jpeg files.

Scanning photos:

Comparison of two images at different resolutions
  • If your printer has a scanner, set it to scan at the highest resolution for the most optimal jpeg files. Aim for a minimum of 5,000 to 8,000 pixels on the long side to give us the best quality to work with.
  • Scan each picture on its own. Do not put more than 1 picture on a scanner.
  • Do not crop your photos, correct or retouch them before you upload them. Leave that to our experts, who have the professional software to polish all your photos to match. 
  • Do not use your phone to photograph physical pictures. The lighting is not even, the images will be skewed, and it’s hard to get rid of the shadow from the phone.
  • For more information, check out our blog entry on how to scan like a pro.

Slides or negatives

  • If you have slides, you will need to have those professionally scanned. There may be a photo lab in your area, or a photographer with a macro lens may be able to help. Again, output digital files as large, high quality jpegs.
  • Negatives are a bit more challenging. It's best to have a professional lab convert negatives to digital files.

Organizing your photos

  • Consider gathering from many different places (photo albums, emails, digital files, family, prints on a wall, etc.)
  • Store scanned photographs as high-res digital files in a folder on your computer, labeling each picture with enough detail for easy searching and organizing, such as the location, a name, and the date (sometimes that's approximate). 
  • Once you have chosen your final images, number them in order of preference for your reminisart™.

Photo restoration

  • Any photos that you choose for additional restoration will be digitally corrected by one of our designers.
  • Examples of restorations within our service include repair of scratches, folds, or faded areas. Removal of small distracting elements in a photograph may be possible.
  • Restored images will be emailed to you for your own personal future use.

Medical-grade removable vinyl

  • All collages are printed on a canvas-like medical-grade vinyl that can be easily applied to most surfaces (ideally a clean, painted, dry-walled surface).
  • The collage can be removed and reapplied an average of 3-4 times.

Installation

Detailed instructions will be included upon delivery of your reminisart™.