All right Heritage Traveler. I know you like to take pictures. And some of you may even base your travel choices on the places that you want to photograph. If so, this post is for you.

Here are 7 questions you need to ask yourself when you’re planning a trip. Your answers are especially important if you’re a photographer who is also a heritage traveler.

1. Choose your destination carefully. It will dictate your travel time. Ask yourself: How much time am I willing to spend just to get where I’m  going? Remember: it will take the same amount of time to get back home again.

2. How much time will it take you to get back on your feet after you return home? If the trip is going to take longer than 5 hours, you should plan on a day at home before and after your trip.

3. What kind of weather can you expect? After all, the weather will determine how much time will you have for sightseeing and other outdoor activities.

4. How much sunlight can you count on? Since you’re a photographer, you’ll want to know how much time you’ll have to shoot. The golden hours for photographers are one hour before dawn and one hour before and after sunset

5. Where is your hotel located? Hotel location will make a difference in how much time it will take to get back and forth to where you want to tour or shoot.

6. Do you want to tour, or do you just want to shoot? If you just want to shoot maybe you want to take a good photo tour. You can find a good selection in magazines like Popular Photography and American Photo.

7. Finally, how much down time do you want? Take a look at the answers to your first 6 questions. Then, make any adjustments that you need to make.

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Almost all of us — at least the people I know — dread hearing the words “don’t forget to back it up.”  It seems like too much trouble or we don’t know how or it takes too much time.  But Heritage Traveler, you’ve just completed an awfully lot of work. So since you’ve spent your valuable time scanning and correcting your images, don’t let accident, theft, or a hard drive crash wipe out what you’ve just achieved. BACK UP YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS!

Experts recommend that you store your photos three ways: 1) on your computer’s hard drive; 2) on an external hard drive; and 3) off premises. You might also want  to burn DVDs. In sum, you will want to make your backups automatic and redundant.

Most of you know that you can set up the Windows or Vista operating systems to do your backup for you. You can also choose a 3rd party software program. National Geographic Traveler suggests Genie Backup Manager Home or Backup Now 5.

Please note that I am not suggesting that you purchase one of these options. I personally use Mozy. They offer two gigs of storage for free. In conjunction with my 120 gig external hard drive, that’s enough for me right now.

The important thing is for you to select the product that you feel comfortable with, choose the folders that you want to backup, and automate everything. Then you can walk away knowing that you’re protected.

New options pop up constantly, so you will want to migrate your files periodically to take advantage of the latest technology. I’ve been told that you definitely need to do this every five years.

While some say that digital files will last for hundreds of years if they’re migrated appropriately, no one really knows. But we do know that paper will last for centuries. So you’re going to want to print out the photographs that mean the most to you.

If you’re going to do this yourself using your own printer, follow the manufacturer’s instructions precisely. Consult their website and use the paper and  inks they recommend.

Taking my photos to a color lab for printing is one of the few things I do the old fashioned way.  Since I live in Manhattan, I actually get on the subway and walk them in. So, once again, I’m tossing out alternatives, not making recommendations. I do know that many photographers prefer Epson printers with Durabright Inks.

The major online processing labs use long lasting archival papers and inks. Snapfish, for example, says that its prints will last over a hundred years. Other online labs include Shutterfly and Kodak Gallery.

As an alternative to prints and a photo album, you might want to think about publishing a book. You can use one of the resources we just discussed, or you can use Blurb or Lulu.

Just think about it. Wouldn’t a gorgeous coffee table book featuring your own photographs make all the work you just did worth it?

Posted by Lisa Reynolds Wolfe.

Photograph by Lisa Reynolds Wolfe.

Now that you’ve taken care of scanning your photographs, it’s time to think about how to bring faded — even damaged — photos back to life.  You are going to do this in three stages.

• First, you will open the scanned picture using an image editing program.
• Second, you will fix the picture.
• Third, you will save the edited picture as a new file.

Sounds easy doesn’t it? So let’s get going!

At this point, you’ll need to decide on the image editing software that you want to use. The ‘gold standard’ is Photoshop. But it’s complicated to learn and expensive. As it turns out, we can do what we need to do much more easily and less expensively. I often use Picnik, a free Internet based editing package whose mantra is “photo editing the easy way, online in your browser.” There are also other choices.

Most digital cameras come bundled with their own image editors. If you have an Apple, you can use iPhoto which is built in. It you have a PC running Windows or Vista, you can use (or upgrade to) Windows Live Photo Gallery.

My husband likes to use Picasa.  In contrast to Picnik, you have to download the software from Google. Once you’ve done this, though, Picasa helps you organize, edit, and share your photos. It’s free, and easy to use.

GIMP is more powerful and more complicated than the tools discussed above. I haven’t used it, but there is information at www.gimp.org.

Paint.NET is also available for free download. I haven’t used it either, but I hear that it falls somewhere in between Picasa/Picnik and GIMP. Let me know how you like it, if any of you choose to try it.

Okay. Now that you’ve selected the image editing program that suits you best, let’s fix our photos.

You’re going to want to 1) adjust the color; and 2) increase the contrast. The controls to make these adjustments vary with the editing programs. Once you master the controls, you can fix your photo in a snap. If you need help with your editing program, take a look on You Tube. They have a variety of “how to” videos for you to peruse.

So far as color is concerned, if you’re working with prints of your images, you’re most likely going to want to increase the percentage of blues and greens. These colors fade first, leaving behind that yukky red tint that most of us are familiar with. After you do this, the contrast comes into play.  You’ll want to adjust this to bring back the ‘blacks’ so that your image doesn’t look washed out.

Do you want to do more?

You might want to try some cropping, or increase the saturation and sharpness to make your picture more vivid. Or you might want to fix a scratch or convert an old color print to black and white. On the other hand, you might want to colorize an old ‘black and white.’  All of these things are possible with the appropriate software and a bit of time and effort.

When you finish playing around, make sure that you save your edited photo as a new file.  After you do this, YOU’RE DONE!

Posted by Lisa Reynolds Wolfe.

Photograph by Lisa Reynolds Wolfe.

For many of us, our travel photographs are like the lyrics of the 1970s song ‘The Way We Were.’ They’re nothing but misty water-colored memories on bedraggled paper … scattered pictures … faded impressions of the far away places we’ve visited and the smiles we gave to those we loved.

Well, here’s the good news! Now you can repair and restore those photographs using the easy techniques that follow.

1. First, make digital scans of the photographs that  you want to salvage.  (I’ll tell you exactly how to do this in  just a minute.) You may want to work on all — or just part — of your collection. By doing this, you are going to prevent further degradation of your images.

2. If you feel that this work is more than you want to take on, you can always pay someone else to do the   scanning. CNN Money has highlighted a company called ScanCafe.com, calling them “the best scanning service.” They will scan your, slides, negatives, and prints for prices starting at under 30 cents each. You get back your original photographs along with a DVD holding the scans. National Geographic Traveler lists several similar services: ScanMyPhotos.com, Britepix.com, and Hollywoodfotofix.com.

The following tips are for those who want to scan their photos themselves. This can be a really fun project, but if you have lots of pictures it can get tedious.  You can buy a dedicated film scanner that handles negatives and slides or you can use a flatbed scanner that handles prints as well. Prices start at well under $200.

3. If you have the negative of a photograph and a good quality scanner, scan the negative instead of the print. This will give you  a sharper image. However, if your scanner is of low quality, scan the print.

4. If you’re scanning prints that will be the same size as the original photograph, set the scan resolution to 300 dpi (dots per inch). If you intend to make enlargements, set the scan resolution to 600 dpi.

5. If you’re scanning 35 mm slides or negatives, set the scan resolution at 2,000 dpi or higher.

6. Never touch the print, slide or negative. Insstead, before scanning, blow or brush the dust off the film or print.

7. Save the scan as a jpeg image set to the highest quality setting.

8. Don’t correct the color, sharpness, or other attributes of the image while scanning.

9. After scanning, make a copy of the scan to edit, then archive the original scan.

10. Even if the photo is black and white, set the scanner for color. If you do this, you will be able to tint your picture later if you want.

Now that you’ve finished scanning, you’ll probably want to make a paper copy of your photos. Whether you print them yourself or send them to a photo lab, make sure that you replace your old photo albums with new ones that have acid free, adhesive free pages.  Store them in a cool dry place, and –VOILA — you’re done!

Posted by Lisa Reynolds Wolfe.

Photograph by Lisa Reynolds Wolfe.