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Photographing old or delicate documents and photography
Photographing Old or Delicate Documents and
Photos
Dick Eastman27 October 2012
Today’s Slides
Available athttp://www.eogn.com/handouts/oldphotos
Scanners
Advantages
• Inexpensive
• Readily Available
Disadvantages
• Scanning thousands of documents may be tedious
Page feed scanners are even worse
• Will work well in unattended mode but internal rollers may damage delicate documents.
Ultimate Unattended Scanner: APT BookScan
1200
• Will work well in unattended mode for books but not suitable for delicate books.
• Expensive at $120,000.
Use a scanner designed for books
• Planetary scanners create minimal page damage.
• Expensive at $10,000 and up.
Use a scanner designed for books
• Available in different models with different scanning speeds
• Expensive at $15,000 and up.
Another Option: Magic Wand
• Great for bound books!
• Battery operated• $99.95• Bed, Bath, and Beyond
• Brookstone• BestBuy• Amazon.com• and other merchants
Still Another Option: Flip-Pal
• Great for scanning photographs!
• Battery operated• $149.95• Mail order only, see the handouts or look at www.eogn.com
No Scanner? Use a Camera!
No Scanner? Use a Camera!
• Genealogists can duplicate this for a fraction of the expense.
• Use a camera stand and a high resolution camera.
No Scanner? Use a Camera!
• Genealogists can duplicate this for a fraction of the expense.
• Use a camera stand and a high resolution camera.
No Scanner? Use a Camera!
• Genealogists can duplicate this for a fraction of the expense.
• Use a camera stand and a high resolution camera.
No Scanner? Use a Camera!
• Best results are obtained with a slow shutter speed and lots of light.
No Scanner? Use a Camera!
• Prices vary from about $60 to…
No Scanner? Use a Camera!
• Camera stand prices vary from about $60 to…
• $100 or more.
No Scanner? Use a Camera!
• The National Archives in London has replaced most of their photocopy machines with camera stands, always near windows.
You Don’t Need A Fancy Camera Stand!
• Use a tripod
• The secret for razor-sharp pictures is a steady platform
• Don’t have fancy lights? Always remember that sunlight works best
Recommendation
• Use a slow shutter speed
• And use lots of light!
• Sunlight works best
Top 10 Recommendations
1 Always back up your photos immediately!
2 Never, ever work on your original photo. Always make a copy.
3 Share your photos.4 Use the auto buttons.5 Crop creatively.
Top 10 Recommendations
6 Take credit, quickly.7 Black and white are beautiful.8 Don’t use JPG or GIF or other,
compressed formats for your working copy!
9 Open a photo and try all sorts of different things.
10 The best way to learn your photo editing program is to dive in.
The BEST Photo Editing Software Is…
1 The free program that came with your scanner or camera
2 Free software you can download (GIMP or Picasa from Google)
3 Photoshop (very expensive)4 Photoshop Elements for Windows
or Macintosh (about $80)
Today’s Slides
Available athttp://www.eogn.com/handouts/oldphotos
