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Traditional scrapbooking may soon be taken over by its digital cousin. The digital scrapbook craze has made huge headway into the world of scrapping. Because all digital scrapbookers posses the necessary computer skills to enjoy their hobby, it means that they can avail themselves to vast online resources. Free and low cost tools, creation software, and video tutorials are everywhere. If you need tailor made advice, technical assistance, or friendly community you'll find it easily.

Restricting yourself to using just your digital photographs is no longer necessary. You can add hundreds of your older photos to your digital photo gallery for as little as 5 cents each. By sending your pictures to an inexpensive scanning service you can fill in those missing decades in your digital scrapbooks.

When you scan photos for a digital scrapbook you are also protecting them from loss, damage, and destruction. If you make digital copies of all of your photos and store them on a DVD, you will be able to put a copy in two or three different locations for complete safety. You will also be able to give a complete copy to each of your children and to other family members and friends.

Aside from using your digitized images for scrapbooking you'll be able to create and purchase photobooks, buy specialized photo based novelties, and upload your photos to the net for sharing, all with a just a few clicks. You can also build slideshows with music to view on a digital picture frame or on a TV.

The optimum resolution for scanning your photo prints is 300 dpi. Don't accept lower and don't pay for higher. Nothing is gained by scanning at a higher resolution than 300 dpi, and you'll be handling much larger files. That means any use of the scans will be slower. Do make sure your scans are saved as high quality jpeg files. This means that the scans are saved with very low compression and thus higher quality. You will be able to use free photo editing software to reduce the file size for copy to use on the web, if needed.

If your scanning service offers automatic photo enhancement in the deal make sure to take advantage of it because a good photo enhancement program will do a nice job of improving most of your photos. But don't overpay. The most important thing is to make sure enhancements are done from a copy of the master scans. Always use a copy of your master scans to edit or enhance. Remember that rotating or manipulating the scan file will eventually reduce the quality of the photo.

Spend a few minutes searching the web and you'll find educational E-books, classes, organizational software, layout ideas, and scrapbook embellishment of every kind. Then find an inexpensive photo scanning service and make your precious memories come alive.