Community Newsletter: Q&A forum: 12/02/05 Best advice for digitizing 90 years of photos

Sounds like you've taken the first step in a journey that has no end. I've been scanning family photos for the past eight or nine years and have probably done about 3,500. Some have been included in the family history books I've published but most have been scanned to share and to archive. I've gone thru four scanners, five printers, several programs and uncounted program updates. And it's been a learning experience as I've found myself rescanning the same photo time and again because as technology improved and the capacity of storage media escalated, the quality of what I was saving could be improved upon.

Here's what I do with photographic prints.

1. SCAN all photos in high color (24-bit) mode...even those that would scan as well in grayscale. Why? Because I can and because many of those pictures are not b/w but a variety of "colors" depending upon the era during which they were taken and changes that may have occurred during aging. Rule number one: don't throw anything away. You can always convert a copy of the saved image file from the original tones to grayscale, but you can never convert a grayscale back to the original...at least I can't.

2. SCAN at the highest resolution reasonable for the image and the use to which it will be put. My rule of thumb is 300 pixels/inch minimum. This is the lowest resolution which prints 1:1 with reasonable photographic-like quality. If the photo being scanned is a typical family snapshot, you won't gain much at higher resolution because photos taken with small-format films typical of the 70's and 80's doesn't contain detail that can be captured at any scan resolution higher than 300 dpi anyway. Photos taken with professional grade cameras (e.g. wedding portraits, graduation portraits, etc.) usually exhibit outstanding resolution and should be scanned at at least 600 dpi to capture the finer details. Enlargements of these will also print well when scanned at higher resolutions.

3. SAVE all files as TIF and write all collections of these to a data CD or data DVD as a permanent archive. Don't worry about using any special photo album software because proprietary software comes and goes...and when it goes, so does the compatibility of the albums you saved [I started using PhotoRecall Deluxe by G&A Imaging in 1998 -- the program and the albums saved with it ceased to be accessible when I upgraded my system to Windows XP SP2. Fortunately, my trusty laptop is still running Win 98!]. Assign meaningful file names to each image that will assist with later cataloging (E.G. SmithJones-JohnJane1923.tif). When developing the system by which YOU will assign names to your files, keep in mind the ability of sorting them in alphanumeric order provided by Windows Explorer. Windows Explorer has several features that make it a useful substitute for Photo Album Software, but remember that any album dependent upon Explorer is probably incompatible with systems based on O/S other than those from Microsoft as well as (probably) with earlier versions of Microsoft operating systems.

The reason for saving as TIF while TIFF files take up far more disk space than JPEG? Why not in GIF? Remember rule #1? Don't throw anything away. TIFF is a lossless format while JPEG is a "lossey" format. GIF "compresses" the image by reducing the number of colors in the image -- so NEVER use GIF for a photograph. You can always convert a copy of the TIFF file to JPEG (or a GIF if you insist) if you wish to e-mail or display images on a website or HTML-based album. You can always go into a TIFF file and edit out pinholes, scratched, adjust color, brightness, contrast and resave as a TIFF without degradation. Besides, as the price of electronic (e.g. disk) storage plummets and internet bandwidth increases, the need for image compression (the reasons GIF and JPEG were developed in the first place) will continue diminish. TIFF is also pretty universal while other formats like PSD are proprietary and software version dependent.

I apply the same process to 35mm slides, but scan those at 2,400 dpi. I scan newspaper clippings at 300 dpi. Here I do scan in grayscale mode and save as a TIFF file. Remember that newspaper deteriorates comparatively quickly and is usually among the first of the family treasures to become unsalvageable.

I also scan family-related documents including naturalization papers, court documents, old deeds, old letters, etc. The resolution I use for these varies between 300 and 600 dpi depending upon the nature and condition of the document. Very large format documents like Land Patents are scanned in two pieces and stitched together using (in my case) PhotoShop and saved as a single TIFF file.

It's also very useful to save, as a text file, all of the data you have regarding on each photo (i.e. the names of the people pictured, the date or year or event or occasion at/for which the picture was taken, the place, and the name of the person who provided the picture and the name of the person (if different) of the person in possession of the original. This file should be on the same CD or DVD as the images.

Make at least one back-up copy of each archival CD or DVD and place it with a remote (as lives in a different house, town, or state) family member or friend for safe keeping. One friend lost his complete collection of disks in a house fire. A cousin lost the contents of a single disk due to a later read error of undetected origin. Fortunately, the cousin had sent me a backup copy which I was able to duplication and return. You can also upload the contents of the disk to a web sever as backup. I have a family website where digital editions of audio tapes and movies from the 60's and 70's are deposited as well as available for viewing by family and friends.

Now select the album software with which you're most comfortable and/or place your photos on-line using any or a number of photo-sharing or family websites for sharing pictures and captions extracted from the CD or DVD created above.

I hope this provides the suggestions you were looking for.

Submitted by: Robert L.

TIFF is the most widely supported graphics file format for printing. Although TIFF is not suitable for viewing in Web browsers, it has other strengths: it is a highly flexible format which is supported by the vast majority of image processing applications. TIFF was designed to be independent of the hardware platform and the operating system on which it executes, so it works equally well on a Windows machine as it does on an Apple. You can also store comments and retain digital camera EXIF data with a TIF while you can't do this with a bitmap.

The BMP format was written primarily for compatibility with Windows programs. Many photo developers will accept TIFF, but it is difficult to find ones who will accept bitmaps.

Really good info but the information regarding working on tiff images is incorrect. Anytime you make changes to the image it will degrade. Granted it is better to work on a tiff or psd than on a jpg file but damage will still occur especially when making changes in exposure or color. The best thing is to try to get the image as close as possible to what you want the photo to look like in the scan. The other thing to do is to scan at a higher resolution ie. 600- 1200 dpi, do the corrections, then resize the dpi before saving the file.
The idea of giving a copy to another family member is great but all my family members live near me so I've been saving my backup copies in a safe deposit box. It's also a good place to keep any precious photos or negatives since it's temperature, humidity and UV are all controlled.
Since hard drive prices are so low and who knows how long CDRoms and DVDs will remain as the storage media of choice I keep another copy on a back up hard drive which will make it easier to transfer my photos whenever changes in technology happen.

The hard drive is my original back up which makes it easier to transfer and locate hundreds of gigabytes of information. I currently have two terabytes of files backed up on hard drives. I make two additional copies of all files on CD or DVD but hope to never have to rely on them for back up. It would one big pain in the butt.

Naturally the biggest reason for a hard drive to fail is the amount of use they go through. I only use these external drives for storage of files and put it away once it's about 80% filled. This helps keep the drive functioning for long periods of time.

There is a site that gives very, very useful and detailed tips on scanning : http://www.scantips.com
and a book by Wayne Fulton (A few scanning tips) which is for me a bible for scanning.

Each time you open and save a JPG file it gets compressed again losing more data. This damages your file each time you save it. It is recommended that you always scan or take your pictures in a file format like Tiff. Some digital cameras only take them in a JPEG format, in this case you would open the file in a photo editor and then save it in a TIFF format. The TIFF file becomes your archive file that you never edit. After you create the TIFF file always make a copy of it to edit and then save in the format that you need for printing, web or e-mail.

I too work almost completely with JPGS in my photography business. The only caution I would add is repeated editing with JPGS will over a few edits and compressions reduce the quality. But considering you are working with 8 X 10 and under JPGS will save a lot of space and time.

Can't imagine how long it would take to do all those years but the most important part is "Have fun with it!" If only a handful take the time to look through them that is more than most who.

Keep an eye out for those free blank CD's too and load'em up! Have fun

Northern has some good comments, but here's one minor correction. The 175 he refers to is the lines per inch of the halftone screen. And when I worked in the prepress business, the rule of thumb was that a photo should be scanned at approximately 2x the line screen, so 300 dpi would be close. A 175 dpi photo screened at 175 lpi would look bad compared to other pictures in the magazine. BTW, this only applies to publishing. Regular photographic prints do not use halftoning, the only purpose of which is to create a printing plate which can represent the various dark and light shades of a picture with printing ink.

One thing nobody has mentioned yet is what happens when pictures are printed at sizes other than original. Enlarging reduces resolution. For instance, if a 4x6'' photo scanned at 300 dpi is then printed at 2x enlargement, the effective resolution becomes 150 dpi. Blow it up to 4x the original size and it becomes a mere 75 dpi! Something to be aware of. Conversely, printing the same picture at half size would bring the target resolution to 600 dpi (not that anyone would notice the benefit).

Change the image to a TIFF format then increase the resolution to 1600 or higher and save it. Then enlarge the TIFF image, convert it back to JPG and store/print it. You don't get near the distortion working with the TIFF format.
I took a little wallet picture and ended with an
8" X 10" print that is as clear as the 1" X 2" original.
"Git 'er done"

I'm not sure of your exact problem but somtimes when saving files as tiff or whatever type of imaging file you might use it's possible for the image to show up in another format or none at all. Check your files and make sure that it ends with .tiff. If not change it and it should open.
Re: the jpeg files. They are not damaged by storage but rather by making any changes to the image,and saving them with the same jpg file name. Any change to the image ie.
cropping, changing color or even rotating can damage the image if it's saved with the same file name. If you have made changes to the image I suggest you keep the file name and simply add an a or whatever to the end of the file name before the .jpg before saving it so that the original image will still remain undamaged.

Also as suggested in many of the postings here be sure to save the original jpg files as they came out of the camera on a "CD or DVD. These can only go bad if the storage media itself goes bad.

Best explanation I've ever read. Thanks

Is the zip file you mention different than what goes on a zip drive tape?

While you are correct about the difference between tiff and jpeg in a digital print being minimal, I think if storage space is not a real issue tiff is the better way to go, converting a tiff to jpeg is better than converting jpeg to tiff. The issue with jpeg's is that every time they are saved the furniture in the room is re-arranged so to speak. When closing a jpeg in photoshop it is better to close with a "don't save" if you have not changed the image since opening it.

.png format was originally designd to make small inserts into web pages, etc. It was not designed to be used on photographs. Besides, you do not have the large gamut of colors and shades available as you do with Photoshop, etc. Suppose you want to add a small simple solid red heart fo part of a banner, you could easily do this with .png, but to copy a human and have a recognizable face, color of hair, multi colored dress etc., .png would not work. It uses only the basic amount of color , not the varying degree or shades of color. Try it and see. It is small in size, yes, but very limited in content of information.

Thanks for the link, Paul.

It was your discussion of lossless JPG formats that prompted my question about PNG formats. How to compare the lossless JPG format with the PNG format? And how do I tell whether my JPG format is lossless?

I submit that this view is not totally correct since JPG is not lossless and the quality is lost every time the JPG file is compressed and saved again.
cf. page 132 of ''a few scanning tips'' for extended explanations.