Easy 35mm Slide Orientation & Rotation

Use this quick guide to stack, orient, and rotate your 35mm slides the right way before scanning. Proper prep prevents cropping, speeds processing, and can save handling fees.

What “faces the screen” when you project?

Identify the slide side that faces toward the screen when projected.
Build stacks with that “toward the screen” side facing up for every slide.
The top slide in your stack is first in the show; the bottom slide is last.

In most cases, the side with the manufacturer’s logo or ID faces the screen. Many plastic mounts even say “this side toward screen.” Align them all this way and you’ll be right almost every time.

Orientation & Rotation (to avoid cropping)

Rotation is only half the job. Every slide also needs to face the same direction with the FRONT up in your stack — see "What ‘faces the screen’ when you project?" above. Getting rotation right but stacking slides with mixed fronts/backs causes the same kind of scanning problems covered below.

Regardless of portrait or landscape subject, stack slides in landscape position for scanning. Otherwise, portrait slides can be cropped top/bottom.
We rotate the files to display correctly, but slides must be positioned correctly for scanning.
If slides aren’t rotated for batch handling, you can leave them (and accept cropping) or ask us to correct them for a small per-slide operator fee.