Abstract: A method for detecting copy restrictive documents is disclosed. At least one photograph (101) is placed on a scanner platen (10) and a low resolution scan is performed (20) to produce a low resolution image. A skew angle and a location of the photograph is determined (30). The photograph is rescanned at a high resolution (40) to produce a high resolution image, the high resolution image is deskewed (45), and the high resolution image is checked (50) for the presence of one or more microdots. Use of the high resolution image is inhibited if microdots are detected (55). In one embodiment, a plurality of photographs are placed on the scanner platen and a portion of each the high resolution images is checked by a software program for the presence of microdots.