You have your entire family’s LIFE in photos. SOMEWHERE.
Now lets get them all organized in just
ONE PLACE.
Join us and I’ll show you how to get all of your fading prints, slides and negatives into your computer and then combine them with your newer digital camera photographs to make one perfect collection you’ll be proud to hand down.
Hi there! Welcome to Scan Your Entire Life.
I’m Curtis Bisel — the overly serious looking guy in the photo.
Since August 8th of 2001, I’ve been working to perfect a workflow to scan and organize my family’s 10,000+ analog photo collection made up of prints, slides and various negatives.
From this website and my email list which I encourage you to sign up for, I release insights, tips, and best practices for doing the same with your own photo collection.
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Photo Scanning Photo Restoration Film, Video and Audio Transfers Personal Photo Organizers Scrapbookers
Topics Covered Here
Organizing Originals
Bringing all of your original photos together in one place. And if desired, creating a suitable order for them before being scanned.
Scanning Photos
Scanning your original prints, slides and film negatives with a photo scanner and scanning software suited to your own goals.
Storing Originals
Best methods how and where to store your original prints, slides and film negatives so they are archival safe.
Organizing Digitals
Learning how to label and organize your digital masters either manually in organized folders, or using the best photo managing software for your needs.
Restoring Digitals
Learning the easiest ways to bring your images back to life, by correcting shifted and faded colors, scratches and dust using your photo editing software of choice.
Backup Digitals
Bringing all of your original photos together in one place. And if desired, creating a suitable order for them before being scanned.
Current Popular Posts
- The DPI You Should Be Scanning Your Paper Photographs
- Use 1 of These Photo Managers If You Care About Your Photo Collection (2017 Update)
- How Quickly You Could Scan Your Entire Photo Collection — What I Discovered From My First Week of Scanning
- How to Write an Autobiography: The Secret Tips to Finally Get Started
- The Best Way to Add a Description (Caption) to Your Scanned Photos
- Epson V800 vs V850 — The 5 Differences and Which You Should Buy
- Scanning Your Film Negatives vs. Prints: An Interesting Comparison
- What Everybody Ought to Know When Naming Your Scanned Photos – Part 1
- Are 99.9% of Your Photographs Just Not Important Enough To Save?
- If You Don’t Add This to the Filename of Your Scanned Photos, You’ll Probably Hate Yourself Later
Latest Blog Posts
Epson V800 vs V850 — The 5 Differences and Which You Should Buy
So you’re ready to buy a very high-quality flatbed scanner to digitize your analog prints and film, but now you’re having a hard time deciding between the Epson Perfection V800 Photo and the Epson Perfection V850 Pro Photo Scanners.
Whether you or an avid hobby photographer, a true professional, or just want to get all the quality you can out of your prints and film, either one of these models is going to give you exceptional results. But, I want to help you feel confident you’re going to make the right choice.
Below, in plain English that will make it very easy to understand, I’ve written out and explained in detail, the 5 differences between the two models.
read more
How to Batch Change Titles and Descriptions in Photos for macOS
Have you ever wondered how to batch change the name and even the caption of multiple photos at a time in Photos for macOS, to the same information for all of them?
For example, you would want to do this if you had a group of photos all taken on the same day, during the same event, and you want to label them in a very similar way — if not the exact same way.
This is a very common need, and knowing how to do this in Photos is not as easy as it was in its predecessor, iPhoto.
read more WE DON’T CARE HOW GOOD YOU ARE WITH COMPUTERS,
JUST HOW MUCH YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR PHOTO COLLECTION.
What People Are Saying About…
You are a truly noble person for all of the people you help without charging them. You help tremendously. Thank you so much!!!
I was happy to find your site since it fills a very real need many have.
I truly enjoy all of your helpful advice. My sister made a large booklet on the genealogy of my family going back to the 500s. I’m adding a part of it for our daughter on my life with her dad! Plus trying to organize all of the pictures we have. Your advice has been so helpful!!!!!
I love your website, and find it incredibly useful!!
I have a constant annoying worry, that I might lose every picture I have taken…they are the story of my life and my 4 daughter’s life too.
Wow, all the questions and issues I’ve had regarding scanning and archiving my photo collection on one website! What a find!
Yours is truly an interesting, readable, and useful blog. Congratulations on it. It has almost kicked my butt enough to start my own blog.
I was really busy the last days due to spending all of my free time reading ‘Scan Your Entire Life’. I really enjoy it.
It has been really good for me to learn from you how to systematize, to scan and organize my old photos and negatives. You really gave me the confidence and courage.
Curtis, THANK YOU!! You saved my photos!! So happy!!
You are the most genuinely humble person I have come across in a very long time… your website is a blessed OASIS to those of us who are panic stricken as we face 1000s of family photos that need archiving.
I am amazed by your benevolent spirit and the gift of the time you take to give us precise details as you empower us to tackle these overwhelming photo collections with a wonderful master plan!
You are a very, very generous man… I don’t think you realize the impact you have on so many of us who want to properly honor our family legacies. Thank you.
Firstly and foremost – brilliant work Curtis. A well prepared site, bristling with information!
I had actually just started scanning the hundreds (thousands) of prints we have when I came across your website.
Your information is so clear and valuable that I have actually started over. Scanning prints, no worries now thanks to you.
Hello Curtis, I’ve been looking for you without knowing it!
Was thrilled to discover your website and recognize that there is a name for what I have been trying to do. Beyond that, you have seven distinct phases that I can access to name and tame my efforts. I have spent time in each of them without a cohesive plan so I recognize them all.
I’ve been working away hit and miss on my images since I retired in 2010. Luckily for me, my own photos and my inherited ones were never put into albums so scanning is an easier handling task. My first motivation was collection and back-up and then I became obsessed with tagging to create a searchable database, and then I tried consistent naming, and then, and then, and so on.
What’s changed those efforts to compel me to push your I’m Serious button? I’m now a granny and have become motivated to tell the family story in a permanent way as a chronicler.
So I anticipate the next step in the journey with guidance from your experiences.
Kudos for a very well-done site and service.
I’ve been fascinated by the articles on your web site. They are spot on. I rarely read something and keep saying ‘YES!’ ‘YES!’ every few paragraphs.
Well done, and you must think exactly like I do!
I am so thankful to have come across your website. I considered buying a scanner about 2 years ago but the more I read the more difficult it seemed to be able to scan my old print photos.
I know so much more now thanks to your website and emails. Thank you so much for your time and the energy you put into your blogs etc to help people like me.
I love your blog. You do such a nice job explaining complex topics in a clear conversational tone.
I work at an advertising agency and my last client was working so hard to explain banking topics in this same exact manner. If you were an expert in banking they would have wanted to scoop you right up! (And they’re a big bank!)
I just wanted you to know that you’re nailing this blog.
I love your website, and find it incredibly useful!!
I have a constant annoying worry, that I might lose every picture I have taken…they are the story of my life and my 4 daughter’s life too.
Curtis, THANK YOU!! You saved my photos!! So happy!!
You are a truly noble person for all of the people you help without charging them. You help tremendously. Thank you so much!!!
I found your website and after a few days of reading the various articles. I signed up for your newsletter and took out the boxes of unnamed and unsorted family photos.
Armed with your naming convention and dpi setting recommendations, I jumped in with both feet and the old family photos are finally getting organized and scanned.
I now know the joy and satisfaction of actually being able to replace an ‘x’ with a numeral! Thank you so much!!
I am 74, a former Air Force (AF) pilot, and only recently got my first camera, so I never captured most of my life on film.
Consequently, I have begun seeking photos from my past to digitize and I have managed to solicit some images by email from AF friends that document our careers in the Air Force. I recently visited my sister and convinced her to relinquish most of her print albums and loose prints and negatives.
Curtis, I read nearly all your posts at least twice if not three times. I learn more each time I read them. You are doing ground breaking work never done before. Maybe one day there will be a standardized naming convention called the ‘Bisel Standard’.
You give us all the incentive to overcome that inertia that prevents us from ever tackling a complicated task such as this. I’m better for having discovered your web site. Thank you again.
Curtis, Love your site! What really sets yours apart from other sites that cover scanning, is that you always weigh the effort and future proofing of things.
Aren't you tired of putting this project off?
Do this for your family.
Before you are out of time...