At a time of limited shooting opportunities, one of the most worthwhile endeavours is to revive your collection of sometime photographs.

Most of u.s.a. have collections of erstwhile photos, either ones shot when we were young or collections inherited from relatives. In the latter there may exist some genuinely valuable images, since people in developed countries have been taking photos since Eastman Kodak introduced the legendary Box Brownie at the plough of the 20th century.

Credibility cameras were taken to both World Wars and pop altogether and Christmas presents for children from the early 1950s. A search through old family photos could well reveal some treasures, although the overwhelming majority of originals will exist blackness-and-white.

The 1960s saw the widespread introduction of 35mm colour slide film, thanks in a large role to Kodachrome becoming available in 35mm with a faster (ISO 64) speed and pre-paid processing included. Negative films in the same format took a flake longer to get pop but the invention by Kodak of C-41 processing in 1972 led to a proliferation of minilabs that made processing relatively cheap and hands attainable.

Equally a outcome of all these developments, a search through old shoeboxes (the traditional storage places for sometime photos) and photo albums volition reveal a diverse collection of picture types and formats, which will require dissimilar treatment.

Scanning and digitising old photos helps to preserve them and makes valuable prototype easier to share.

Why Digitise?
The main reasons to digitise old photos are to preserve them and make them easier to share. No affair how well they take been handled in the past. Old photos will change over fourth dimension. Fifty-fifty B&West originals can fade, although they're not a decumbent to fading equally color originals.

Gelatin emulsions can become damaged, either by mould infestations or concrete injuries caused by chafe or keen. Colour originals are especially vulnerable and different colours volition fade at different rates. Cyan and yellow dyes are the almost susceptible and when they fade, the result will be a purplish colour bias in the image.

Some of our older readers volition have produced – or be in the process of creating – family history records. Digitising old photos will provide a valuable contribution to these documents. It also makes old photos much easier to share with other family members, including children and grandchildren. A photo book containing recollection of your babyhood – or an important family unit consequence – is a valuable heirloom and well worth spending time on.

What Equipment do you lot Need?

While you tin can copy prints past re-photographing them with a camera or smartphone, the procedure is catchy and time-consuming and the results depend upon your level of expertise. If y'all want to make prints from these copies in the future the results are oft disappointing.

Similarly, yous tin buy 35mm slide holders that will fit onto a macro lens on your camera and allow you to re-photograph the image and save it in digital course with your camera's native resolution. Cheap picture scanners are besides available for 35mm negatives and/or mounted slides, although the resolution is likely to be quite low (typically around v megapixels). The scans are often saved directly to an SD card.

Dedicated moving picture scanners are available with depression price tags but their capabilities are quite express and most can only handle 35mm motion picture.

In both these cases, yous'll normally need to spend actress time 'cleaning upward' the scans to remove dust and concrete damage like scratches and correct off-colours.

Black-and-white prints tin can be scanned successfully with a standard multi-role printer/copier/scanner.

If your collection consists mainly of prints, you can probably start straight abroad with your existing dwelling house office equipment. Most any multi-function printer/copier/scanner tin be used to scan B&Due west prints. Canon produces a nice line of dedicated document scanners under the CanoScan LiDE brand name. The peak model (LiDE400) has 4800 10 4800 pixel resolution and offers output resolutions up to 19.200 dots/inch (dpi), while the entry-level model has 2400 10 2400 pixel resolution. Both sell for less than AU$170. Epson's Perfection V39 has similar specifications to the Canon LiDE400 and a similar price tag.

Colour prints will probably require post-scan editing to 'restore' faded colours. Just, then, all scans should exist checked in an paradigm editor and so you tin can fix blemishes and bring them back to life.

Negatives are a different matter. If y'all effort to scan them with a flatbed scanner the results will be unusable; you need a dedicated movie scanner that passes low-cal through the film to the CCD array that collects the digital data.

Flatbed scanners with film scanning capabilities are the most versatile option for anyone with a mixed collection of prints, negatives and slides.

Epson produces a range of flatbed scanners with energy-efficient LED light sources in their covers and line arrays of CCD sensors below the platen to collect the paradigm information.  The advantage of these scanners is their ability to scan both films and prints. Resolutions of flatbed picture scanners range from 4800 x 9600 dpi to 6400 x 9600 dpi of optical resolution, with prices ranging from around AU$250 to $1400.

Check the interpolated resolution when shopping for a scanner every bit it volition tell you how well the scanner's driver software can 'backup' spaces between scanned dots. This is important if you plan to enlarge images for press besides as when scanning movie frames for archiving. Most scanners should offer an interpolated resolution of most 9600 x 9600 dpi.

Resolution is non the but criterion to consider when choosing a flatbed/film scanner; colour fleck depth and DMax (maximum density) are almost as important. Bit depth defines the number of colour levels the device can record, while DMax defines the dynamic range information technology can handle. In each case, college figures are amend and you volition pay the highest prices for scanners with 48-scrap colour and 4.0DMax listed in their specifications.

Other criteria to consider when choosing a scanner include bundled software for dust and scratch removal, colour restoration and grain direction. These tools can save yous valuable retouching time when y'all edit scans before saving them. Sharpening software can likewise be a handy time-saver, although in about cases the same Unsharp Masking adjustments are available in your paradigm editor. This tool tin be useful when the raw scan is a fiddling soft.

How to practise it

Regardless of whether y'all're scanning prints or picture show, each original should be cleaned earlier scanning to remove dust and fibres they may accept attracted. Use a soft brush and compressed air blower to remove them. Mould is more hard to deal with and may not exist removable without damaging the originals. Similarly, there'south not much you can do to repair physical damage. Torn prints may be repairable with tape on the back of the print to hold the pieces together. Negatives that take been cut are almost impossible to repair and will require extensive editing.

It'due south important to select the correct scanner settings for your originals, starting past distinguishing between prints and motion picture since each volition require dissimilar light sources. Images on film need to be separated into positive ('reversal' or 'transparency') and negative since the latter requires an additional processing pace to convert the hues and tones into a 'normal' image.

Regardless of whether your scanner comes with 'cleaning up' tools, you lot will still need to put finishing touches to virtually all of your scanned images. The process needn't have a lot of fourth dimension if yous know which tools to utilise and how to utilise them.

Any lint-free cloth can be used to clean dust and fibres off prints.

B&W originals can be scanned with either the colour or the greyscale mode. The colour mode collects more data, providing more flexibility to manipulate the image. You can change it dorsum to greyscale after scanning. Sepia-toned originals should always be scanned in colour.

Always 'preview' or 'pre-scan' to check what the end result volition looks like before committing to a scan.

Automatic settings tin can be useful for novices and provide a convenient shortcut. But they may not scan at the resolution yous require for the end use of the browse. Different usages have different scanning requirements, which hare outlined in the table below.

Application Ideal Image Size (in pixels) Resolution (in pixels/inch
For phones and tablets 1024 ten 768 pixels 72-92 ppi
Viewing on Idiot box and monitor screens 1920 ten 1080 pixels 72-92 ppi
Printing to 15 x 10 cm 2000 pixels wide 300 ppi
Printing to A4 size 4000 pixels broad 300 ppi
Printing at A3 and A3+ size 4500-5500 pixels wide 250-300 ppi

Almost software applications include tools which deed globally (on the whole image) to correct exposure and contrast levels and produce a nice colour balance. They may not evangelize the exact result you desire – especially in the case of color adjustments – merely they by and large provide transmission overrides that let you pull back over-adjustments.

Cloning and healing tools are also common in well-nigh epitome editors and you'll generally detect the related castor sizes are adjustable. Brush 'softness' and the intensity of  the adjustment are usually provided also. With these tools nearly of the blemishes establish in scans of old photos are hands corrected.

You tin can find enough of tips on diverse editing functions in our  Editing Tips section. Potential scanner buyers will as well find a review of the Epson Perfection V600 flatbed/motion picture scanner, which is yet available locally. And watch for our up-coming review of Epson'south top-of-the-range  Perfection V850 Pro scanner which will be published towards the end of this month. (Join our newsletter to be advised on new reviews.)

Article past Margaret Chocolate-brown – see Margaret's photography pocket guides

Subscribe to Photograph Review magazine