Does anyone have any idea's on how to take a digital photo of a photograph (Page 5): Now, I'm blushing too ! ! :oops: By the way Lorima, welcome to the Hog.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Lorima wrote:

You are so kind, I'm blushing

:-)

Now, I'm blushing too ! ! :oops:
By the way Lorima, welcome to the Hog.

Wilbur Johnboy Loc: Wilbur, Washington

Wilbur Johnboy wrote:

I loaded up my scanner software to show some of the features that are available on my printer. I also loaded some pictures and selected them to crop as individual pictures, I didn't bother to align them properly but it isn't hard to do, it's going to take a few posts to get them all up, I hope it's OK.

Here are the pictures I just scanned off of the pictures loaded in my printer, I scanned them at 1200 DPI they were all taken with an old box camera in the early 60s

washy Loc: Dorset UK

Lorima wrote:

I have a lot of photo's from the past 20 years in my photo albums that my friends and cousins are swapping with each other on Facebook. When I take a digital photo with my Nikon Coolpix of the original glossy photograph it does not come out as clear as I would like. See photo below. Any ideas?

Scan it, I scanned a 40 year old photo , cropped it and played around with it in Lightroom 4 and it came out a very respectable picture.

Penny MG Loc: Fresno, Texas

Lorima wrote:

I have a lot of photo's from the past 20 years in my photo albums that my friends and cousins are swapping with each other on Facebook. When I take a digital photo with my Nikon Coolpix of the original glossy photograph it does not come out as clear as I would like. See photo below. Any ideas?

I do agree that scanning them is the best way. If you do not have a scanner and your only means is to take a photo of the old photos, put your camera on a tripod, angle it slightly above the picture that you are photographing. Using automatic settings works well usually, but if you are shooting manually, its actually ok if the picture is a little dark or light because then you can maneuver it in post editing. The tripod should do away with any camera shake. You may have to reposition the camera a couple of times to get the best picture.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Penny MG wrote:

I do agree that scanning them is the best way. If... (show quote)

If you're going to do this and you have a relatively short-focus lens, you might consider holding the picture with a Plamp (http://www.tripodhead.com/products/plamp-main.cfm ) or you can tape the picture to a wall. If you want to protect it while moving it around, put it inside a matte page holder, but DO NOT leave the picture in the plastic unless the sleeve is acid-free and made for print storage.

johnfromsouthwell Loc: Southwell, Notts. UK

If you are using a camera it is important to use a small aperture around f16 say. This will give more depth of field than larger apertures such as f4 and this in turn will compensate for any focusing errors and errors in aligning the camera parallel with the photograph. Small apertures will require longer exposures which together with the short distances involved make a tripod essential.

John

Lorima Loc: Colorado

Thanks everyone. I think I am getting the hang of it now. You guys are the best.

hchriste Loc: Minnesota

I scan my old photos and save them as JPEG files, then one can edit to some degree in photo shop or another program.

Frosty Loc: Minnesota

Lorima wrote:

I have a lot of photo's from the past 20 years in my photo albums that my friends and cousins are swapping with each other on Facebook. When I take a digital photo with my Nikon Coolpix of the original glossy photograph it does not come out as clear as I would like. See photo below. Any ideas?

By now you have probably received about all the information you want but I will add something anyway. You asked about taking pictures of old photos so this is how I do it.

I cut a hole in an old wash basin to put the camera lens through. I set the camera to macro and adjust the telephoto to the right size and then use the timer to take the picture. I use the wash basin to reduce glare which is especially bad with a glossy photo. The shutter speed is slow but since everything is stable if doesn't seem to matter. Below is my set up and a photo of a photo.

Basin

Basin with canon g 12

Ice sculpture from glossy photo

Wilbur Johnboy Loc: Wilbur, Washington

Frosty wrote:

By now you have probably received about all the in... (show quote)

Would using a clear wash basin to allow more light on the photo help or hinder the process?

Frosty Loc: Minnesota

Wilbur Johnboy wrote:

Would using a clear wash basin to allow more light on the photo help or hinder the process?

I tried several things before settling on this setup. First I tried a tripod. Too much glare. Then I tried a frosty milk bottle. Still too much glare. Then a spotted the old wash basin. The translucent basin has worked the best, but you still have to look carefully at the viewfinder for glare and shield the basin with something by moving it around until you eliminate the light source.

I see the photo I chose to demonstrate this technique has some glare on the left side. Therefore, I added some others.

Backpacking in Wyoming

Canadian locomotive

Wilbur Johnboy Loc: Wilbur, Washington

Frosty wrote:

I tried several things before settling on this set... (show quote)

Wow, beautiful, the first one was dark leading to my comment, these are great, good suggestion.

Lorima Loc: Colorado

Frosty wrote:

By now you have probably received about all the in... (show quote)

Wow that looks great. I only have a Nikon Coolpix L100 which does not have a lot of settings. I am experimenting and some are coming out pretty good. Thanks for you tip.

Frosty Loc: Minnesota

Lorima wrote:

Wow that looks great. I only have a Nikon Coolpix L100 which does not have a lot of settings. I am experimenting and some are coming out pretty good. Thanks for you tip.

Good, I hope it works for you as well as it has for me. I have done quite a few photos from photos because I don't have the type of scanner others have mentioned. The only tricky part is eliminating glare before taking the pic.

Good Luck - Frosty

Himat Loc: Toronto

Scanning is the best

Peggys Cove Eastern Canada