This offer is good through December 31, 2005
	Guidelines for Scanning
	To do the best job on your photo, we need a high-resolution scan. Your scanning software will have controls for setting resolution and other options. This depends on the make and model of the scanner, so we can't give specific instructions. The important thing is to end up with a file in a lossless format, of just under 8 megabytes. This is the largest file you can currently upload.
	About File Size
	Ideally, we would like to work from files of approximately 5 Megapixels. However, files this large (about 15 Megabytes when uncompressed) are difficult to send over the Internet. In fact, the largest file we can currently handle is 8 Megabytes. Some 5 Megapixel files will actually compress down this small, but others will not. So we are in a "cut-and-try" situation.
	About File Formats
	The second point of importance is that the most common photo file format, JPEG (or .jpg), is not a faithful reproduction of your original photograph. It is only an approximation. JPEG is good for many purposes, but submitting a photo for restoration is not one of them. That said, we do return a JPEG file to you (in as high a quality setting as possible), because many photo labs and other output services will only work from this format.
	Acceptable File Formats
	The two file formats we have settled upon are .png (PING) and .tif (TIFF). Both of these can be compressed quite well. As mentioned above, sometimes a 5 Megapixel scan will in fact compress to under 8 Megabytes in one of these. The only way to find out is to try it. The software that came with your scanner should have options for setting the desired file type. If it doesn't support either .png or .tif (nearly all support .tif), please write to us. As a last resort, you can scan a .bmp and zip it (which is why we allow the .zip file type). It is particularly important that the file be saved (or scanned directly "into") one of the above formats. Converting a .jpg file into a .tif or .png gains nothing whatsoever. (If you're interested in learning more about this issue, use your favorite search engine to look for JPEG artifacts, which are the result of  "lossy" compression.)
	Resolution
	Your scanner software also has controls for resolution. This is the tricky part: you'll need to play around with the resolution until you find a setting that results in a file, either compressed .tif or .png, that is less than 8,388,608 bytes in length. The closer you can come to that number, the better. Do not, however, resize an already scanned image unless you are using Photoshop or comparable software set to the highest available resampling quality, and you are making the image smaller. As with converting a .jpg to a .tif or .png, it is pointless to send us an upsampled file, since the smaller original has just as much detail. Resizing (resampling, actuallly) seems to work best either in simple fractions (1/2, 1/4, etc.) or in repeated 10% increments. Things like 58% are best avoided. However, you might use resizing to work out the resolution needed and then do a rescan at that resolution. It would be faster than doing a whole series of rescans. Don't worry too much about this. You should be able to come up with a file somewhere in the 6-to-8 Megabyte range fairly quickly, and that will do.
	Color and Other Settings
	Always scan in RGB color, even Black-and-White photos. Why? Because there is often hidden detail in one or more of the color channels, and we can extract it. Turn all automatic enhancements off. They will only make our job harder. If the picture is either very light or very dark, however, we may need to ask you to do another scan at different brightness and/or contrast settings.
	Notes
	If you're scanning a 4"x6" photo, try 450 pixels per inch (ppi) for starters. For a 6"x9", try 300 ppi. I'll work out a more comprehensive table in the future.
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