Digitizing picture album
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This weekend, I some how got a motivation (not sure how) to scan few thousand pictures from my grandparents' days to current. Forget my grandparents, my parents also didnt have digital cameras -- unfortunately. I googled (now I can use the verb with lowercase "g") but only few search results came but none that actually are practical for me. 1) Purchase Adobe Photoshop Elements Plus ($$$$$) 2) Go to Costco for re-print + CD option .. unnecessary re-printing + $$$$ 3) Purchase negative scanner (I don't have negatives) 4) Purchase photo-scanner with photo-tray (purchased and returned an HP photo-scanner due to poor scan qualitity and lack of support for non-standard sizes (e.g. 2x3s or 1x1s -- which were "standard" in early 1900s)). So, I purchased a regular flatbed scanner. I was hoping to find a (preferrably open source, free)software that allows me to place multiple picutres (of multiple sizes) at once and scan them and be able to automatically split them by whitespace/transperancy at picture edges. Auto-tilting would be the icing on the cake, but I don't mind doing it myself if it is opensource. Any suggestions? Thanks, - Malhar
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This weekend, I some how got a motivation (not sure how) to scan few thousand pictures from my grandparents' days to current. Forget my grandparents, my parents also didnt have digital cameras -- unfortunately. I googled (now I can use the verb with lowercase "g") but only few search results came but none that actually are practical for me. 1) Purchase Adobe Photoshop Elements Plus ($$$$$) 2) Go to Costco for re-print + CD option .. unnecessary re-printing + $$$$ 3) Purchase negative scanner (I don't have negatives) 4) Purchase photo-scanner with photo-tray (purchased and returned an HP photo-scanner due to poor scan qualitity and lack of support for non-standard sizes (e.g. 2x3s or 1x1s -- which were "standard" in early 1900s)). So, I purchased a regular flatbed scanner. I was hoping to find a (preferrably open source, free)software that allows me to place multiple picutres (of multiple sizes) at once and scan them and be able to automatically split them by whitespace/transperancy at picture edges. Auto-tilting would be the icing on the cake, but I don't mind doing it myself if it is opensource. Any suggestions? Thanks, - Malhar
Try InfranView[^] or Paint.NET[^] - the latter being almost an open source Photoshop replacement. Scan each image separately and make sure you use the TWAIN driver-based scanning utility to select (as in - use the crosshairs cursor put a dotted line around) the area you want to scan and then set the highest resolution the scanner can take. Scanning this way will be slow, but a 1" by 1" photo can be turned into a 5" by 5", allowing you to see all the little details you never noticed before. Feel free to ask more questions if i wasn't exactly clear. Roswell :)
"Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
Antonio VillaRaigosa
City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA -
This weekend, I some how got a motivation (not sure how) to scan few thousand pictures from my grandparents' days to current. Forget my grandparents, my parents also didnt have digital cameras -- unfortunately. I googled (now I can use the verb with lowercase "g") but only few search results came but none that actually are practical for me. 1) Purchase Adobe Photoshop Elements Plus ($$$$$) 2) Go to Costco for re-print + CD option .. unnecessary re-printing + $$$$ 3) Purchase negative scanner (I don't have negatives) 4) Purchase photo-scanner with photo-tray (purchased and returned an HP photo-scanner due to poor scan qualitity and lack of support for non-standard sizes (e.g. 2x3s or 1x1s -- which were "standard" in early 1900s)). So, I purchased a regular flatbed scanner. I was hoping to find a (preferrably open source, free)software that allows me to place multiple picutres (of multiple sizes) at once and scan them and be able to automatically split them by whitespace/transperancy at picture edges. Auto-tilting would be the icing on the cake, but I don't mind doing it myself if it is opensource. Any suggestions? Thanks, - Malhar
Fun job, huh? I've scanned thousands of negatives (nearly every variety), slides, prints and album pages. It's probably well into the 10's of thousands now. Here's what I've used: Hardware: An Epson 836XL large format scanner, a Canon FS4000 film scanner. Software: VueScan Pro[^]. I use this exclusively for all of my scanning. It allows you to specify a grid of images to scan which works good on my large format scanner. For grain reduction on those special pictures that need a good cleanup, I use Neat Image Pro[^] For sorting, cropping, archiving I use Picasa. For touchups I'll either use the Picasa tools for easy stuff or PhotoShop for more complicated things. Now a couple of tips about scanning and archiving. The most important thing I've learned so far is that, depending on how many images you have, it can be extremely time consuming. Here are a few things I've done to make it easier: 1) Determine the resolution you can live with and stick to it. Don't fall into the trap of scanning at a higher resolution than you need. It will take too much time and space. 2) I scan my negatives at 2000 dpi, even though my film scanner supports 4000 dpi. It takes about a quarter the time to scan and I end up with the equivalent of a 5.5 megapixel image. That will allow adequate 8x10 enlargements (7 megapixels would be ideal, but my tests showed that anything past 2000 dpi took way too long). 3) I set a goal of scanning at sufficient resolution to blow up to 5x7 for small pictures, 8x10 for anything else. Typically this means I don't scan any prints at higher than 600 dpi. 4) Everything gets scanned at 12 bits and saved as uncompressed TIFF. This is the archive version. From that version, I do colour correction, grain reduction and save to 8 bit JPEG's at 90% quality. This is the version that gets sent out. Note that the colour correction and grain reduction are done in a batch process, after which I review the pictures and tag the ones that need to be manually done. So there you go. That's what works for me - good luck and hope this gives you a few ideas. Cheers, Drew.
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This weekend, I some how got a motivation (not sure how) to scan few thousand pictures from my grandparents' days to current. Forget my grandparents, my parents also didnt have digital cameras -- unfortunately. I googled (now I can use the verb with lowercase "g") but only few search results came but none that actually are practical for me. 1) Purchase Adobe Photoshop Elements Plus ($$$$$) 2) Go to Costco for re-print + CD option .. unnecessary re-printing + $$$$ 3) Purchase negative scanner (I don't have negatives) 4) Purchase photo-scanner with photo-tray (purchased and returned an HP photo-scanner due to poor scan qualitity and lack of support for non-standard sizes (e.g. 2x3s or 1x1s -- which were "standard" in early 1900s)). So, I purchased a regular flatbed scanner. I was hoping to find a (preferrably open source, free)software that allows me to place multiple picutres (of multiple sizes) at once and scan them and be able to automatically split them by whitespace/transperancy at picture edges. Auto-tilting would be the icing on the cake, but I don't mind doing it myself if it is opensource. Any suggestions? Thanks, - Malhar
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Yep, I bought an Epson Perfection scanner about 5 years ago. The software that came with it let you put a number of pictures on the plate and it would scan them into separate files, and straighten them up. Not much help if you've already bought a scanner though.
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Fun job, huh? I've scanned thousands of negatives (nearly every variety), slides, prints and album pages. It's probably well into the 10's of thousands now. Here's what I've used: Hardware: An Epson 836XL large format scanner, a Canon FS4000 film scanner. Software: VueScan Pro[^]. I use this exclusively for all of my scanning. It allows you to specify a grid of images to scan which works good on my large format scanner. For grain reduction on those special pictures that need a good cleanup, I use Neat Image Pro[^] For sorting, cropping, archiving I use Picasa. For touchups I'll either use the Picasa tools for easy stuff or PhotoShop for more complicated things. Now a couple of tips about scanning and archiving. The most important thing I've learned so far is that, depending on how many images you have, it can be extremely time consuming. Here are a few things I've done to make it easier: 1) Determine the resolution you can live with and stick to it. Don't fall into the trap of scanning at a higher resolution than you need. It will take too much time and space. 2) I scan my negatives at 2000 dpi, even though my film scanner supports 4000 dpi. It takes about a quarter the time to scan and I end up with the equivalent of a 5.5 megapixel image. That will allow adequate 8x10 enlargements (7 megapixels would be ideal, but my tests showed that anything past 2000 dpi took way too long). 3) I set a goal of scanning at sufficient resolution to blow up to 5x7 for small pictures, 8x10 for anything else. Typically this means I don't scan any prints at higher than 600 dpi. 4) Everything gets scanned at 12 bits and saved as uncompressed TIFF. This is the archive version. From that version, I do colour correction, grain reduction and save to 8 bit JPEG's at 90% quality. This is the version that gets sent out. Note that the colour correction and grain reduction are done in a batch process, after which I review the pictures and tag the ones that need to be manually done. So there you go. That's what works for me - good luck and hope this gives you a few ideas. Cheers, Drew.
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I'm looking at doing the same thing as the OP and your advice is excellent though a little dated now, anything changed since then?
Yesterday they said today was tomorrow but today they know better. - Poul Anderson
Hmm, let's see... 1) I rarely use the Canon FS4000 anymore. I have a HP ScanJet G4050 which allows me to scan 5 negative strips or 16 slides at once. It's worked well for me - the typical review on sites I checked was good although not from the customer's perspective. I assume that's because of the driver which I don't use (I still prefer VuScan). 2) Buy an IT-8 target and profile your scanner. I got a reflective target and a slide target. While you're at it, get something like a spyder and profile your monitor. It makes a big difference. I got the targets and a Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite from Adorama[^] in the U.S. (get them to use UPS Worldwide Express to ship - there's a flat-rate import brokerage fee that's way lower than paying a courier broker fee which can easily be $35 or more). 3) If you want to print an image bigger than the scanned resolution will typically allow, use a preprocessor like QImage to print. It has a fractal scaling algorithm that is excellent. I just finished doing a 36" x 48" print from a 3,000 x 2,250 scan. That means printing from the equivalent of 83 dpi source file. You wouldn't believe the quality of the print - no blocking, artifacts etc. Very clear. It's the kind of process used to print billboards and other very large material so that you don't get the typical Windows printer blocking artifacts. 4) I archive on Blu-rays now. LG drives cost about $150 and the discs are down to around $3.50 each for good ones. That's about all I can think of now. Hope that helps! Cheers, Drew.
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Hmm, let's see... 1) I rarely use the Canon FS4000 anymore. I have a HP ScanJet G4050 which allows me to scan 5 negative strips or 16 slides at once. It's worked well for me - the typical review on sites I checked was good although not from the customer's perspective. I assume that's because of the driver which I don't use (I still prefer VuScan). 2) Buy an IT-8 target and profile your scanner. I got a reflective target and a slide target. While you're at it, get something like a spyder and profile your monitor. It makes a big difference. I got the targets and a Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite from Adorama[^] in the U.S. (get them to use UPS Worldwide Express to ship - there's a flat-rate import brokerage fee that's way lower than paying a courier broker fee which can easily be $35 or more). 3) If you want to print an image bigger than the scanned resolution will typically allow, use a preprocessor like QImage to print. It has a fractal scaling algorithm that is excellent. I just finished doing a 36" x 48" print from a 3,000 x 2,250 scan. That means printing from the equivalent of 83 dpi source file. You wouldn't believe the quality of the print - no blocking, artifacts etc. Very clear. It's the kind of process used to print billboards and other very large material so that you don't get the typical Windows printer blocking artifacts. 4) I archive on Blu-rays now. LG drives cost about $150 and the discs are down to around $3.50 each for good ones. That's about all I can think of now. Hope that helps! Cheers, Drew.