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
- How Quickly You Could Scan Your Entire Photo Collection — What I Discovered From My First Week of Scanning
- 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 to Write an Autobiography: The Secret Tips to Finally Get Started
- Epson V800 vs V850 — The 5 Differences and Which You Should Buy
- The Best Way to Add a Description (Caption) to Your Scanned Photos
- What Everybody Ought to Know When Naming Your Scanned Photos – Part 1
- Scanning Your Film Negatives vs. Prints: An Interesting Comparison
- 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…
Thank you again! You are so much more pleasant, good natured, and knowledgable than ANY tech support I’ve ever used!
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 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.
You had a great idea when you started this website. There are many like us who realize the great things we can do for future generations, while also having a great time ourselves.
Thank you so much, what a fun website to read, your articles had me chuckling, as I too have zillions of questions as I start a project.
It’s a joy to see others think the same way. :-) Perhaps I can consider this day 1 in the scanning process!
Wow, all the questions and issues I’ve had regarding scanning and archiving my photo collection on one website! What a find!
This is a fantastic site. I have been wrestling with all these issues and your site is by far the best of any information that I have found – you are answering exactly the same questions that I have. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your series of articles. I’ve read them all. I started out knowing practically nothing about this. But now I’m ready to review the articles and get started scanning.
You have helped a LOT of folks. And with the baby boomers hitting 65 by the thousands each week the demand for your articles can only go way up.
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, THANK YOU!! You saved my photos!! So happy!!
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.
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.
I was happy to find your site since it fills a very real need many have.
“Thank you so much for taking the time to share your photo management experiences online.
I’m just starting a family photo digitizing project and the info here has been really helpful to me.
I know how much effort it takes to put this all down in a sharable form and I’m very grateful to you!”
I just wanted to say, yes, glad you did create this site. You have obviously helped many people and from little I have read, you are very clear and personable. So many videos and classes will go on and on and then rush right through the important stuff.
I am making a new push to get pictures scanned and organized, so I have been looking for good advice and am glad to have found a kindred spirit. Keep it up and Thanks!
Thanks for making my life better. I love you dearly.
Your site is GENIUS. Your approaches are the most thorough I have seen. Thank you for this invaluable information.
I would like to compliment you on your website. It provides a lot of useful information all in one place. Great Job!
I’m afraid I haven’t worked up the courage to get started yet! The job still looks overwhelming to me. But I read your advice, and imagine I will begin one day.
Thanks for your great website. You are the only reason I’m even considering scanning my ton of photos.
This is a fantastic site. I have been wrestling with all these issues and your site is by far the best of any information that I have found – you are answering exactly the same questions that I have. Thank you!
Aren't you tired of putting this project off?
Do this for your family.
Before you are out of time...