rmm0605 Loc: Atlanta GA

When I converted my many negatives and slides to digital form I used my Epson Perfection V750. Now a friend with no equipment or photographic knowledge per se is asking where she can get her recently deceased mother's scores of albums converted. One problem is she has captions naming people in the pictures and my friend wants to capture these.

Who does this type of work? I know many will rip slides or negatives, but the custom work is what concerns me.

Thanks to all for helping with this!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

If you mean the captions are written on the album pages by the pictures then scan the whole page and use the cropping tool to separate the image and caption into one image instead of letting the photo scanning software do an auto-crop.

https://www.picmonkey.com/blog/how-to-preserve-old-photos-and-captions-digitally

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Good link, and easy to do. If there are notes under the pictures, that's a different story. Someone could still scan the picture with the text, though. Basically, if you can see it, you can scan it.

Plieku69 Loc: The Gopher State, south end

I just finished photographing Grandmother's albums. All the captions were under or along side the pictures. Creating a RAW image is nice when it comes to cleaning and restoring the originals.
Get the lighting correct and you can hand hold the camera and shoot an entire album in 15 minutes. I set up a table outdoors, just watch for reflections, they can sneak in on some shots.
Finished photo's are saved as a JPG and include the margin notes. Combined into a single PDF that I emailed to the in-laws and cousins.

Ken

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

First: That is a great scanner (V750), the one I wish I had so I could do 35mm to 4x5" film. I have a V500 so I can only do my 35mm and 6x6cm and 6x7cm films. My 4x5" and few 8x10" negatives I have to copy by using a Camera, Tripod, and a Light Box.

Second: No idea where she could have that done for her. With "extra" requirements likely expensive. A good reason to keep the photo albums. Why not just use the primary place or person's name as a file name. Others have suggested ways of possibly retaining the captions. Perhaps a new hobby for you -- photo copier. I a while back scanned 99 old negatives for a family of friends. It was slow too because the film was not a standard size for today and I was using my rather limited Epson V500. The 6x9cm ones were not too bad but I had to get creative to copy 2.5 and 2.75 inch wide film! And in the end it seemed the only person who they were sure of was their paternal grandfather in the one image, the very largest negative as it turned out. They could not really ID all the other relatives positively. So in some ways it was a waste of time (for them). I found it interesting in some ways and honed my spotting, retouching Photoshop skills a bit.

rmm0605 Loc: Atlanta GA

Thanks to all for your suggestions so far. The problem is my friend has no photo skills and low-level computer skills and--worst of all--little time to do this. She wants to turn the project over to someone that can do it for her; and I don't have any idea who that would be!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Maybe the request was a hint that you could find that person by looking in a mirror.

My wife is a "hinter" and since the 70s I have been telling her to just say it outright so I can say yes or no.
At least I have her to the point where she makes it a question about half the time: example = "Would you like to take out the trash?" Often I say "No! I wouldn't." but I will because I love you!"

rmm0605 Loc: Atlanta GA

This is someone in another state. Thanks for thinking of the obvious!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

"This is someone in another state.Thanks for thinking of the obvious!"

Now you tell me!

Different kettle of fish.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

The folks at Tempe Imaging Center will probably do this for you. However, it is not a standard scanning task. Thus, the cost may be prohibitive.
--Bob

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Exactly.
I have this same scanner you do.
Cropping tool is your friend. You can crop each photo on the page with the caption and it will do all of them at once as individual photos.
This is a great tool for such things.Here is an example from my grandfather album of his growing up in Mexico and those he personally knew there growing up.

(Download)

SteveG Loc: Norh Carolina

I've always heard good things about Legacy Box. They will convert all old movie formats and photos to the digital platform of your choice

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

So, she does not trust you with her mom's old photos? Surely you are not selling them to National Geographic or something. Visit your friend and take even an album at a time. And there is always shipping.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

yes, wonder if it is further than Eureka to Sa Diego, CA? And it does seem like many people in many states don't drive much. CA is a car culture.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I used the Organizer in PS Elements to tag my scanned photos with people names or just broad family connections such as aunts, uncles, cousins or friends. You can also designate the date of the photo instead of going by the metadata date which will only show the date scanned.