Old photograph reproduction
 

I have an old photograph of my Grandparents when they were in their thirties which was probably taken in the late 1940's. I know that there are places that can scan photos to be reproduced and I have tried to have my photo done but I am told it is out sized and cannot be scanned. The photo is approx 6" x 2" and has a white border.

Does anyone know of a good service provider that I can take to photo to for scanning so I can produce a larger version for framing.

Stephen have you tried to do it yourself. I used to do photo retouching years ago it was one of my jobs. I would take a photo of the original to get a negative, print that out retouch any damage then re-photograph. With todays scanners you could do the same. Let me know how you get on.

If you have a copy of the June 06 edition of "Digital Photo" magazine, there is a feature in there on how to do this for yourself. It should be available from their back issues department (0845 121 4000, cost about £6.50), or if you ping me a PM, I'll put my copy in the post to you.

Duncan

Unfortunately I do not have a decent scanner. The scanner I have was purchased in 1999 and was used to scan tables and images from documents then import into essays/reports etc. I know I could photograph the photograph using my camera but lens distortion and glare may come into play. The photo has a slight curl to it adding to the difficulty of using a camera as a scanner.

I have sent a pm, Duncan. The article sound very interesting.

Unfortunately, the article involves using a scanner. Could you perhaps borrow one to import the image?

To photograph the picture, it could be mounted behind glass to get rid of the curl. I know you may then get even more problems with reflections, but a man with your skill in the use of 'black flags' should be able to sort this out.

D.

Stephen,

Try the longer end 50-70 on your 28-70. Choose by a window or open door on an overcast day. Tripod job. I did loads in the days of film for publishing in a book my mother wrote. I have not tried digital yet, but using RAW with its flexibility I could not imagine that results, other than your curl problem, would be that inferior to a scanner.

You could overcome the curl by using anything that does not cast a shadow to hold the pic down by its corners, then crop and add a new border in pp.

Don

Another suggestion, find a friend with a new scanner, it's amazing how well you can work from the scan now. Lots of the booboo's get removed with just the scan.

Even cheapish scanners seem pretty good to my eye, mine cost about 60 pounds in Tescos, in the past I have had great fun scanning old B&W photos, specially the little ones and seeing how far I can blow them up. It would be an investment.

Mick

I can scan for you (Canon lide 500F) if you trust the post to send it. (unless you are coming over for the cat?) Also had lots of practise doing ma-in-laws family back to 1880s for her birthday last year. You can push the resolution up as high as it needs as it also takes slides for which you need 1200ppi upwards.

BTW if you find a scanner nearer, best to leave all scanner settings zeroed and do all post-processing under manual control later, the only exception being de-screen if original has a pointy character.

That cat is still up for grabs eh?

I am going to try to photograph the photograph and will post the results here in a few weeks after I get chance to have a go.