Scan/ Save/ Burn Newbie

Question

This is my first post, so please excuse me if I do something wrong and the fact that it is long.
Before I start I would like to say I spent hours trying to figure things out. Only to have my head hurt. I then decided to look through posts and solved a lot of the problem . Thanks to people like Terence, Old Toad, LarryHN and all the others that take time to answer questions us newbies don't know.
My goal: to scan and save then burn my moms old photos and negatives.
I have a Imac 0S X 10.4.11 and canon 8800f scanner . Software IPhotos, Adobe elements 4.0, Adobe bridge, Photostudio.
I am not using adobe bridge( at least I don't think I am) because it will not work with IPhoto from what i have read. And I am also not using Photostudio.
This is what I have come up with. I put a photo into scanner, open MP Navigator and Scan photo. I am scanning all photos in color 300dpi including the B&W. The negatives I scan in color 2000dpi.
After scan I save the file to MP Navigator in a Tiff. I then open IPhoto and import file. Is there a better way?
Thanks to you guys I can now open Adobe elements 4.0 while in IPhoto( I spend hours trying to figure that out before I read it) and I am slowly learning about editing with filters and unmask sharp.
The Questions: I read to scan B&W in color with RGB color profile. What is this and how to change setting? I open the scanner driver to ScanGear but I can't seem to find this.
I save this photos as Tiff and import to IPhoto where I can play around with editing. I read that I should save the original as tiff and work on a jpeg, just to save space on my hard drive. Also that I should have backup files.
So If I save the photo in MP Navigator as tiff, and I import it to IPhotos as tiff. When and how do I change and save them to jpeg? After I import the photos to IPhoto should I delete the photos in MP Navigator to save space on my HD? Or do I leave them there as my backup? I understand that saving as a Tiff is better but takes more space.I am going to burn the photos to DVD so my mom can see them on tv and give copys to my family so if they want to print some they can do it themself for the DVD. Is it better to burn them as a Tiff or as a jpep or does it make a difference?
I am not that computer savy and I have not had my mac that long so please try to answer in easy to understand way.
Thank You

Answer 1

tobra:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. The reason for scanning to color for the B/W files is that iPhoto doesn't not support the grayscale color mode that scanners use for B/W scanning.
I'm not sure why you're saving to tiff as it's a much greater sized file and will eat up disk space at a horrendous rate. Since iPhoto always works on a jpg copy when editing you can scan to jpg and always have the untouched copy (i.e. the digital negative) available for use if desired. If you're a professional then the tiff may have some more significance.
Here's how to use Photoshop Elements correctly with iPhoto:
Using Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements) as Your Editor of Choice in iPhoto.
1 - select Photoshop as your editor of choice in iPhoto's General Preference Section's under the "Edit photo:" menu.
2 - double click on the thumbnail in iPhoto to open it in Photoshop. When you're finished editing click on the Save button. If you immediately get the JPEG Options window make your selection (Baseline standard seems to be the most compatible jpeg format) and click on the OK button. Your done.
3 - however, if you get the navigation window that indicates that PS wants to save it as a PS formatted file. You'll need to either select JPEG from the menu and save (top image) or click on the desktop in the Navigation window (bottom image) and save it to the desktop for importing as a new photo.
This method will let iPhoto know that the photo has been editied and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..
NOTE: With Photoshop Elements 6 the Saving File preferences should be configured: "On First Save: Save Over Current File". Also I suggest the Maximize PSD File Compatabilty be set to Always.
If you want to use both iPhoto's editing mode and PS without having to go back and forth to the Preference pane, once you've selected PS as your editor of choice, reset the Preferences back to "Open in main window". That will let you either edit in iPhoto (double click on the thumbnail) or in PS (Control-click on the thumbnail and seledt "Edit in external editor" in the Contextual menu). This way you get the best of both worlds
2 - double click on the thumbnail in iPhoto to open it in Photoshop. When you're finished editing click on the Save button. If you immediately get the JPEG Options window make your selection (Baseline standard seems to be the most compatible jpeg format) and click on the OK button. Your done.
3 - however, if you get the navigation window that indicates that PS wants to save it as a PS formatted file. You'll need to either select JPEG from the menu and save (top image) or click on the desktop in the Navigation window (bottom image) and save it to the desktop for importing as a new photo.
This method will let iPhoto know that the photo has been editied and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..
The reason for using the RGB color profile is that is what is used by Apple for it's printing services and what's used for the internet. Most inkjet printers will work better with the sRGB color profile.
If you're going to burn those photos to a DVD to play on a TV then the largest size needed is 740 x 580 pixels as that's what's used for displaying on TV. No need to over shoot the target. BUT you don't want to scan that small because the photos may be used for printing at some time in the future.
If you use iDVD to create your slideshows that will be played on a TV you'll want to crop the photos to a 4:3 ratio before sending to iDVD. This will fit the picture to the available TV safe area the best. You can opt to include the original full sized image file on the DVD disk along with the iDVD slideshow or just burn a DVD of the original scanned files.
Let me urge to to consider getting an external Firewire hard drive to be used for backing up your boot drive. You can use Time Machine to do the backups or use a backup application like SuperDuper (for cloning the entire boot drive or just the User folder and contents) or Synk Standard for backing up selected folders to the external with incremental backups each day.
IMO using jpgs for the intended use are just fine.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.≤br>
Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.