I have an old (~30-40 years old) photos album with photos that I wish to
digitise/scan.

Unfortunately the album if of the type where each page is made up of a
sticky surface and a transparent film covering it. So you carefully
peeled the film, stuck the photo to the sticky page, and then cover with
the film, with the film held in place by the sticky surface that was not
covered by the photos. The pages are quite big, so each page holds
several photos.

The film peels easily, but the photos are still very well stuck, and I
really cannot see how to remove them to be scanned.

Any idea how to go about this?

I really do not want to damage the photos, but am more than happy to
destroy the album in the process if needed (will transfer the photos to
a new one).

As a last resort I can scan each page with the photos in place, but with
the pages being very large (way bigger than A4 - my scanner size), it
will take several turns of the page to scan all the photos on it, and
then extra work to extract the photos from the scanned images.

JoeJoe wrote:
I have an old (~30-40 years old) photos album with photos that I wish to
digitise/scan.

Unfortunately the album if of the type where each page is made up of a
sticky surface and a transparent film covering it. So you carefully
peeled the film, stuck the photo to the sticky page, and then cover with
the film, with the film held in place by the sticky surface that was not
covered by the photos. The pages are quite big, so each page holds
several photos.

The film peels easily, but the photos are still very well stuck, and I
really cannot see how to remove them to be scanned.

Any idea how to go about this?

I really do not want to damage the photos, but am more than happy to
destroy the album in the process if needed (will transfer the photos to
a new one).

As a last resort I can scan each page with the photos in place, but with
the pages being very large (way bigger than A4 - my scanner size), it
will take several turns of the page to scan all the photos on it, and
then extra work to extract the photos from the scanned images.

Last resort cut the album page to the picture sizes.

On Thursday, August 14, 2014 10:03:09 AM UTC+1, JoeJoe wrote:
As a last resort I can scan each page with the photos in place, but with
the pages being very large (way bigger than A4 - my scanner size), it
will take several turns of the page to scan all the photos on it, and
then extra work to extract the photos from the scanned images.

Scanner mouse?

http://www.expansys.com/lg-smart-sca...r-over-256028/

http://www.qvcuk.com/qvc.product.505372.html

They tend not to be the highest resolution though.

Or treat as a book and use a high res digital camera to photo each page, then select the images and save each selection as a file.

Owain

On 14/08/2014 10:03, JoeJoe wrote:
I have an old (~30-40 years old) photos album with photos that I wish to
digitise/scan.

Unfortunately the album if of the type where each page is made up of a
sticky surface and a transparent film covering it. So you carefully
peeled the film, stuck the photo to the sticky page, and then cover with
the film, with the film held in place by the sticky surface that was not
covered by the photos. The pages are quite big, so each page holds
several photos.

The film peels easily, but the photos are still very well stuck, and I
really cannot see how to remove them to be scanned.

Any idea how to go about this?

I really do not want to damage the photos, but am more than happy to
destroy the album in the process if needed (will transfer the photos to
a new one).

As a last resort I can scan each page with the photos in place, but with
the pages being very large (way bigger than A4 - my scanner size), it
will take several turns of the page to scan all the photos on it, and
then extra work to extract the photos from the scanned images.

Best to leave them on the pages - you will almost certainly damage them
trying to get them off after all that time.

You may have to remove the lid of the scanner to get some of the photos
over the glass plate if the pages are very big.

Have a good look at your scanner software. There may be an 'advanced'
mode - or somesuch - in which the scanner can recognise multiple images
and save each one to a separate file.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 14/08/2014 10:03, JoeJoe wrote:
I have an old (~30-40 years old) photos album with photos that I wish to
digitise/scan.

Unfortunately the album if of the type where each page is made up of a
sticky surface and a transparent film covering it. So you carefully
peeled the film, stuck the photo to the sticky page, and then cover with
the film, with the film held in place by the sticky surface that was not
covered by the photos. The pages are quite big, so each page holds
several photos.





Use a scalpel and cut each picture out - clean them - I used a
photography blower brush.

Scan at 600 dpi, with no treatment (no scratch or dust filters etc) and
save as tiff file.
jpeg is lossy, so as your 'digital negative' ... better to use tiff.


Then adjust as required in your editing program (Lightoom is very good
for this) .. then save in whatever format you want. (jpeg or whatever)

If you have the negatives - you could simply scan them, I use a Minolta
DiMage scanner for negatives.






--
UK SelfBuild: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/UK_Selfbuild/

On Thu, 14 Aug 2014 11:51:45 +0100
Rick Hughes wrote:

On 14/08/2014 10:03, JoeJoe wrote:
I have an old (~30-40 years old) photos album with photos that I
wish to digitise/scan.

Unfortunately the album if of the type where each page is made up
of a sticky surface and a transparent film covering it. So you
carefully peeled the film, stuck the photo to the sticky page, and
then cover with the film, with the film held in place by the sticky
surface that was not covered by the photos. The pages are quite
big, so each page holds several photos.





Use a scalpel and cut each picture out - clean them - I used a
photography blower brush.

Scan at 600 dpi, with no treatment (no scratch or dust filters etc)
and save as tiff file.
jpeg is lossy, so as your 'digital negative' ... better to use tiff.


Then adjust as required in your editing program (Lightoom is very
good for this) .. then save in whatever format you want. (jpeg or
whatever)

If you have the negatives - you could simply scan them, I use a
Minolta DiMage scanner for negatives.


Agreed. Always keep your first scan file ('digital negative')
unmodified, you can always go back to it later for another go at
editing. Keep a backup.
I use The Gimp for editing images, it is amazingly versatile, but
needs a lot of learning to make the most of.

--
Davey.

In article f6bc3bcd-ef90-4768-87e9-
,
says...

Or treat as a book and use a high res digital camera to photo
each page, then select the images and save each selection as
a file.

A camera can work for this, especially when used with a copy
stand. See:
http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/ge...y-copying.html
As you can see from the Camera vs Scanner page linked from
this, a 600dpi scanner can have a better resolution than most
cameras, depending on the image size. There is more info on
making and using a diy copy stand solution he
http://archivehistory.jeksite.org/ch.../appendixd.htm

As a simpler alternative, I got a handheld Iriscan book2 for
some Family History Society scanning of old handwritten books
without damaging them or their bindings by trying to put them
on a conventional flat-bed scanner and it meets that need
perfectly. We've also used it for old photos in an album,
where they can't easily be removed without damage. With this,
the individual page scan size can be of any length with a 22cm
max width or vice-versa if scanned horizontally. For greater
than this width, and it needs the images stitching together.

For a description of its use, see:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuE3iq4xgw0

Hope this helps
--
John W

In article
m, F
Murtz wrote:
JoeJoe wrote:
I have an old (~30-40 years old) photos album with
photos that I wish to digitise/scan.
[snip]
As a last resort I can scan each page with the photos
in place, but with the pages being very large (way
bigger than A4 - my scanner size), it will take several
turns of the page to scan all the photos on it, and
then extra work to extract the photos from the scanned
images.

Last resort cut the album page to the picture sizes.
If you're lucky, they might line up on each side of the page

John

--
John Mulrooney
NOTE Email address IS correct but might not be checked for a while.

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak

On 14/08/2014 12:44, JTM wrote:
In article
m, F
Murtz wrote:
JoeJoe wrote:
I have an old (~30-40 years old) photos album with
photos that I wish to digitise/scan.
[snip]
As a last resort I can scan each page with the photos
in place, but with the pages being very large (way
bigger than A4 - my scanner size), it will take several
turns of the page to scan all the photos on it, and
then extra work to extract the photos from the scanned
images.

Last resort cut the album page to the picture sizes.
If you're lucky, they might line up on each side of the page

John


They don't... :-(

On 14/08/2014 11:39, Roger Mills wrote:
On 14/08/2014 10:03, JoeJoe wrote:
I have an old (~30-40 years old) photos album with photos that I wish to
digitise/scan.

Unfortunately the album if of the type where each page is made up of a
sticky surface and a transparent film covering it. So you carefully
peeled the film, stuck the photo to the sticky page, and then cover with
the film, with the film held in place by the sticky surface that was not
covered by the photos. The pages are quite big, so each page holds
several photos.

The film peels easily, but the photos are still very well stuck, and I
really cannot see how to remove them to be scanned.

Any idea how to go about this?

I really do not want to damage the photos, but am more than happy to
destroy the album in the process if needed (will transfer the photos to
a new one).

As a last resort I can scan each page with the photos in place, but with
the pages being very large (way bigger than A4 - my scanner size), it
will take several turns of the page to scan all the photos on it, and
then extra work to extract the photos from the scanned images.

Best to leave them on the pages - you will almost certainly damage them
trying to get them off after all that time.

You may have to remove the lid of the scanner to get some of the photos
over the glass plate if the pages are very big.

Thanks - Haven't thought of that and could make life much easier.


Have a good look at your scanner software. There may be an 'advanced'
mode - or somesuch - in which the scanner can recognise multiple images
and save each one to a separate file.

Checked, and it does!

On 14/08/2014 10:03, JoeJoe wrote:
snip
The film peels easily, but the photos are still very well stuck, and I
really cannot see how to remove them to be scanned.

Any idea how to go about this?

I really do not want to damage the photos, but am more than happy to
destroy the album in the process if needed (will transfer the photos to
a new one).

Digital camera.
Get the light right so no shadows and no flash and you'll get as good a
picture of what is most likely quite a low quality original. Definitely
won't be any worse than the original and you get to keep the album in
it's original condition protecting the pictures as it has done for the
last 40 years.

In article , JoeJoe
writes
On 14/08/2014 11:39, Roger Mills wrote:

You may have to remove the lid of the scanner to get some of the photos
over the glass plate if the pages are very big.

Thanks - Haven't thought of that and could make life much easier.


Have a good look at your scanner software. There may be an 'advanced'
mode - or somesuch - in which the scanner can recognise multiple images
and save each one to a separate file.

Checked, and it does!

Excellent, that will be so much easier.

Another couple of tips:

If you haven't already done so, dismantle the album so you are dealing
with single sheets without a spine. If it's anything like historic
versions I have seen then this will be easily done and should be
reversible (it may just be a couple of pins holding the leafs a bit like
a ring binder).

Build up a flat working are around the scanner to the same level as the
flat bed, it will make it so much easier when the leafs are half on half
off.

If you do remove the lid, weigh down the leaf with a book or similar to
make sure the leaf is flat. Don't use something too heavy as the glass
on many scanners is just held to the underside of the frame with double
sided tape.

Watch out for glue residue passing from the sheets to the glass and
clean regularly.

Good luck :-)
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

On Thursday, August 14, 2014 2:05:04 PM UTC+1, www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote:
On 14/08/2014 10:03, JoeJoe wrote:

snip

The film peels easily, but the photos are still very well stuck, and I

really cannot see how to remove them to be scanned.



Any idea how to go about this?



I really do not want to damage the photos, but am more than happy to

destroy the album in the process if needed (will transfer the photos to

a new one).



Digital camera.

Get the light right so no shadows and no flash and you'll get as good a

picture of what is most likely quite a low quality original. Definitely

won't be any worse than the original and you get to keep the album in

it's original condition protecting the pictures as it has done for the

last 40 years.



If they are old photos printed on photo paper from negatives soak the pages in water. You won't damage the photos as they were likely water washed when first printed whereas the album pages should disintegrate if left long enough. The prints can be air dried. THey may curl slightly but nothing a scanner lid couldn't handle.

www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote:
On 14/08/2014 10:03, JoeJoe wrote:
snip
The film peels easily, but the photos are still very well stuck, and I
really cannot see how to remove them to be scanned.

Any idea how to go about this?

I really do not want to damage the photos, but am more than happy to
destroy the album in the process if needed (will transfer the photos to
a new one).

Digital camera.
Get the light right so no shadows and no flash and you'll get as good a
picture of what is most likely quite a low quality original. Definitely
won't be any worse than the original and you get to keep the album in
it's original condition protecting the pictures as it has done for the
last 40 years.



The best place to photograph pages like this is the greenhouse. The
light quality is excellent when the day is cloudy.

Bill

On Thu, 14 Aug 2014 13:53:05 +0100, JoeJoe wrote:

On 14/08/2014 11:39, Roger Mills wrote:
On 14/08/2014 10:03, JoeJoe wrote:

You may have to remove the lid of the scanner to get some of the photos
over the glass plate if the pages are very big.

Thanks - Haven't thought of that and could make life much easier.

If you do this fill one or two plastic ziplock type bags half full
with a total of about 1kg of rice and place them on the sheet while
scanning to keep the sheet being scanned flat.

On 14/08/14 10:03, JoeJoe wrote:
I have an old (~30-40 years old) photos album with photos that I wish to
digitise/scan.

Unfortunately the album if of the type where each page is made up of a
sticky surface and a transparent film covering it. So you carefully
peeled the film, stuck the photo to the sticky page, and then cover with
the film, with the film held in place by the sticky surface that was not
covered by the photos. The pages are quite big, so each page holds
several photos.

The film peels easily, but the photos are still very well stuck, and I
really cannot see how to remove them to be scanned.

Any idea how to go about this?

I really do not want to damage the photos, but am more than happy to
destroy the album in the process if needed (will transfer the photos to
a new one).

As a last resort I can scan each page with the photos in place, but with
the pages being very large (way bigger than A4 - my scanner size), it
will take several turns of the page to scan all the photos on it, and
then extra work to extract the photos from the scanned images.

How about a photographic process? Mount a digital camera on a downward
facing mount, arrange even lighting and place album under the camera?

Post process to digitally separate the photos?

On Sun, 17 Aug 2014 09:00:04 +0100
Tim Watts wrote:

On 14/08/14 10:03, JoeJoe wrote:
I have an old (~30-40 years old) photos album with photos that I
wish to digitise/scan.

Unfortunately the album if of the type where each page is made up
of a sticky surface and a transparent film covering it. So you
carefully peeled the film, stuck the photo to the sticky page, and
then cover with the film, with the film held in place by the sticky
surface that was not covered by the photos. The pages are quite
big, so each page holds several photos.

The film peels easily, but the photos are still very well stuck,
and I really cannot see how to remove them to be scanned.

Any idea how to go about this?

I really do not want to damage the photos, but am more than happy to
destroy the album in the process if needed (will transfer the
photos to a new one).

As a last resort I can scan each page with the photos in place, but
with the pages being very large (way bigger than A4 - my scanner
size), it will take several turns of the page to scan all the
photos on it, and then extra work to extract the photos from the
scanned images.

How about a photographic process? Mount a digital camera on a
downward facing mount, arrange even lighting and place album under
the camera?

Post process to digitally separate the photos?

Good advice, but I think you'll find it has already been offered.

--
Davey.

On 14/08/2014 10:03, JoeJoe wrote:
I have an old (~30-40 years old) photos album with photos that I wish to
digitise/scan.

Unfortunately the album if of the type where each page is made up of a
sticky surface and a transparent film covering it. So you carefully
peeled the film, stuck the photo to the sticky page, and then cover with
the film, with the film held in place by the sticky surface that was not
covered by the photos. The pages are quite big, so each page holds
several photos.

The film peels easily, but the photos are still very well stuck, and I
really cannot see how to remove them to be scanned.

Any idea how to go about this?

I really do not want to damage the photos, but am more than happy to
destroy the album in the process if needed (will transfer the photos to
a new one).

As a last resort I can scan each page with the photos in place, but with
the pages being very large (way bigger than A4 - my scanner size), it
will take several turns of the page to scan all the photos on it, and
then extra work to extract the photos from the scanned images.

I initially tried to use a digital camera to take a photo of each photo,
but the result was not very good (hand shaking/angle of photo/light
source/etc).

As I only had one album - around 40 photos, to deal with, it really
wasn't worth investing in equipment or time to sort this out. In the end
I temporarily removed the scanner cover (as suggested here), carefully
removed the transparent film from each page, and scanned each page
separately (sometimes requiring 2 x scans to cover one page).

The result is very good, and the 40 year glue on the page is still
holding so I even managed to stick the film back in place! Very happy
indeed...

Many thanks to all for the advice - much appreciated!