Introduction to Scanning and Organizing Digital Photographs

Mariecris GatlabayanArchivist, Archives and Special Collections

Consortium Library, UAA/APU

Technology and Teams

• Scanning stations• Get to know team members

– Why are you interested in scanning photographs?– What types of photographic materials will you be

scanning?– What is the most important thing you want to

learn or take away from this workshop?– Come up with a team name

Great minds thinking together can up with some great answers!

WHAT DO WE KNOW?Let’s start with…

Myths and Magic of Digitization

Which provides a better quality, “zoomable,” image taken with a 35mm camera? Make a case for the option chosen.

a) 35 mm negativeb) photographic print c) scanned image, jpegd) scanned image, tiff

*Second rule of digitization club: Your scan will only be as good as the original.

*First rule of digitization club: Keep the original.

Q1

• When scanning photographic materials, the scanner can only capture detail that is there.

• Similarly, when printing an image on paper it can only reflect the image captured on the negative.

• While the negative can only capture what the negative is capable of capturing.

• With math and software, like Photoshop, you can edit a photograph or try to draw-out details from a photograph.

Put the media formats in order of more permanent to least permanent? I.e. which will retain its original look the longest? Which has the shortest life span?

a) Polaroid photob) JPEG on a burned CDc) 35 mm color slided) JPEG on your computer hard

drive

Q2

Put the media formats in order of more “permanent” to least “permanent?” I.e. which will retain its original look the longest? Which has the shortest life span?

c) 35 mm color slide (stable color photographic process)

a) Polaroid photo (Image will be retained as long as kept in dark, dry, cool storage. Will, however, develop a yellow stain in time.)

b) JPEG on a burned CD (7-15 years)

d) JPEG on your computer hard drive (30-50 years)

Q2

Digitization is not preservation!

Shocking Truth about Thin-skinned CDs, February 22, 2011. Family oral history using digital tools. http://familyoralhistory.us/news/view/shocking_truth_about_thin-skinned_cds/

Digitization is access and use!

• Family and friends • Researchers

Sharing

Digitization is access and use!

Publications• Articles, books,

websites, etc.• Exhibits• Marketing• Film productions• Art

http://www.consortiumlibrary.org/blogs/archives/2009/07/10/creative-archives/

Digitization is access and use!

Reduce physical handling of fragile or fading photographs

Members of the Copper and Tanana Rivers Expedition, 1885. Fred Wildon Fickett papers. Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Why the quotes on “permanent”?

When you use the term permanent with respect to digital storage, there is always a caveat. Permanent means “permanent until the next migration.” That’s because there really is no such thing as permanent digital storage. Hard drives will wear out or become obsolete. Optical discs will also eventually fail or become obsolete. In fact migration of storage devices should probably happen every few years, and almost certainly no longer than five years.

The file naming, and folder structure of your storage is a different story. This is called the logical structure of the archive, and if it’s designed well, it should be able to last a long time before any migration.”

- Quote from dpBestflow: “Archives” http://www.dpbestflow.org/file-lifecycle/archive

The best way to organize your photographs is by:

a) Peopleb) Photographerc) Dated) How you know you

are going to find it

Q3

Which image has the highest resolution? The

highest *ppi.

a)

*ppi: pixels per inch

Q4

b)

Which image has the highest resolution? The

highest ppi.

Q4

The answer is b.Image a is 72 ppi and 6.6

inches x 8.4inches.

Image b is 300 ppi and 6 inches by 7.5 inches.

Q4

What is the minimum resolution, or dpi*, an image should have when printing it out on paper?

a) 600 dpib) 300 dpic) 150 dpid) 72 dpi

*dpi: dots per inch

Q5

Bit depth refers toa) The number of pixels per imageb) Range of colors represented in

photoc) Number of bytes per image filed) Depth represented in 3d images

Q6

Burning vs. Calculating Images

• Images captured on film are ‘burned’ into a photosensitive emulsion.

• Images captured digitally or scanned are made using math.– Color values are calculated into

• Bits of bytes: 0s and 1s• Digits for digitization

– Images are put together with pixels• Resolution= pixels per inch (ppi)• The higher the resolution, the more pixels per inch, the

more fine detail, and the bigger the file

Which scanner is better suited for scanning slides?

a) Canon CanoScan 9000F Color Image Scanner

b) Epson B11B178011 Perfection V700 Photo Scanner

c) Braun Multimag Slide Scanner 4000 for 35mm Transparencies

Q7

Scanner a and b are flatbed scanners that have the capability to scan slides. If you have a large number of slides to scan, you may be interested in option b which can do 12 slides, rather than option a. It all depends on the size of your scanning project.a) Canon CanoScan 9000F Color Image Scannerb) Epson B11B178011 Perfection V700 Photo Scanner

For preservation purposes, option c is not a good option for scanning slides. Unlike a flatbed scanner in which a slide lies still and the scanner does all the work, this scanner has the slides moving which increases the possibility of slides getting stuck or damaged in the process.c) Braun Multimag Slide Scanner 4000 for 35mm Transparencies

Q7

I should refresh (i.e. transfer my files) to a new medium (includes hard drive, CD) every:

a) 6 monthsb) Yearc) 5 yearsd) When I get a new

computer

Q8

To ensure long term access to photographs taken with a digital camera, it is best to save the downloaded image as

a) The camera's raw formatb) Pdf-Ac) Jpegd) tiff

Q9

How many copies of scanned or born-digital image should you save?

a) 5b) 4c) 3 (3-2-1 rule: 3 copies. 1

access copy. 2 preservation copies.

d) 2

Q10

PLANTime to

• What do you want to scan?– Are you scanning family photos? What events are the

typical subjects or contents of the photographs? Birthdays? Vacations?

• Why do you want to scan your photographic materials? What will they be used for?– Help determine what format and resolution you should

save your access copy.

• Where do you want to store them?– Make sure you have the media to save the

preservation copy, a back-up copy, and an access copy.

Basic steps of digitization, organizing, editing, and preserving images.

Before Digitization • Select images for digitization.• Figure out how you want to organize images. What categories do they naturally fall in?

Can you organize them by date, photographer, event? What arrangement will work best for you to find images.

• Put the photographic materials in the order/arrangement you plan to save the digitized images.

• Determine a naming convention for the file names. Also start thinking about tags you would use to describe your photos.

Digitization• Scan images using technical details outlined in slide 31.• Create 3 copies of the file. Save 2 preservation copies tiffs: 1 on your computer and

the other on a CD, flash drive, external hard drive, or cloud server etc. And save 1 access copy (usually a high resolution jpeg) that you will edit and make copies from to share with family and friends.

After Digitization• Add your tags, captions, and extra description using Windows Explorer, Picasa, Adobe

Lightroom, or any other organizing software.• Start editing photos using the access copy.

What do you want to scan?

• What are the major groupings reflected in the photos?

• Recommend organizing by date an image was taken or date downloaded. – Ex. Save photos to different folders, different ‘buckets.’

Folder title like 1950s, 1960s, 2010s. Can breakdown hierarchy further by year… like 1951, 1952, 1953, etc.

Create a naming convention/structure

Naming convention for photo: year-descriptive title.tiff

Description title should be short and clear.

Differentiate different copies by adding a “p” for preservation copy and “a” for access copy.

P-198x-swimming-at-lake.tiffA-198x-swimming-at-lake.jpeg

Take time to write down file name for the photo you will be scanning today. *Do not forget that you can add extra description by tagging the photos.

Time to scan

• Open scanning software.• Set it to professional scanning

mode or advanced scanner settings.

• Bit depth– 8 bit grayscale for black and white images– 24 bit color for color images

• Scan the image at a high resolution to preserve detail: – 600ppi for photographs– 1200ppi for slides or negatives

• Dimensions: – 4000 pixels on the longest side for photographs– 4800 pixels on the longest side for slides or negatives

• Save as a tiff. Make preservation and access copy. Save to appropriate media.

Scanning technical details

Editing and Tagging

• There are multiple photo editors and organizing software.

• Freeware: Microsoft Windows Explorer, Google Picassa, Apple iPhoto, and Gimp (photo editor only).

• Software for purchase: Adobe Elements, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Bridge, and Corel Ulead PhotoImpact.

Embedding description/metadata with Windows Explorer

• Open file in windows explorer• Click on “Organize” “Properties”

“Details”• Fill in the different fields. Can include title,

tags, descriptions, subject, and comments.• Limited searchability. Cannot search by the

different fields.

Editing with Google Picasa

• Can organize and edit photographs.• Can share images on the web.• Can create slide shows.• Editing functions: cropping, resizing

files, clone/patch stamp to repair tears and blemishes, and special photo effects.

• Download Picasa at: http://picasa.google.com/

Editing with Adobe Photoshop

• To provide flexibility in editing, Photoshop uses layers.

• You can edit layers so if you decide later on that you weren’t sure about an edit you made 20 steps ago, you can back and adjust it.

• Photoshop can do a lot of amazing things. But there is a high learning curve and it can be pretty pricey. Consider buying if you anticipate editing, manipulating, and creating materials that integrate digital photographs.

• All is not lost! There are plenty of online tutorials to walk you through your projects.

Scanning, editing, and organizing photographs resources

• “Creating & Editing Digital Photos: Tips for Scanning & Restoring. By Kimberly Powell.” http://genealogy.about.com/cs/digitalphoto/a/digital_photos.htm

• “Scanning Software, Tips and Help.” http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/scanning/Scanning_Software_Tips_and_Help.htm

• “Adding Descriptions to Digital Photos: Your Gift to the Future.” http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/multimedia/videos/personalarchiving-photometadata.html ; pdf transcript: http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/multimedia/documents/photometadata_script.pdf

• “Repairing and Restoring Damaged Photos in Photoshop.” http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshoptutorialsrepair/Repairing_and_Restoring_Damaged_Photos_in_Photoshop.htm

• “Guides to Quality in Visual Resource Imaging: Selecting a scanner,” Don Williams. 2000 Council on Library and Information Resources. * This guide was mean for intuitions looking to digitize materials. http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/visguides/visguide2.html

• “Moving Theory into Practice: Digital Imaging Tutorial” Cornel University Library/Research Department. *This tutorial was meant for institutions looking to digitize their materials. http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/tutorial/contents.html

Photo preservation resources

• The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs: Traditional and Digital Color Prints, Color Negatives, Slides, and Motion Pictures by Henry Wilhelm with contributing author Carol Bower. http://www.wilhelm-research.com/book_toc.html

• “How Long Will Digital Storage Media Last.” Personal Digital Archiving Series. Library of Congress. http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/documents/media_durability.pdf

• “Personal Archiving: Preserving Your Digital Memories: How to Preserve Your Own Digital Materials.” Library of Congress http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/index.html

• Wilhelm Image Research: http://www.wilhelm-research.com/

• “Archive,” by Peter Krogh. dpBestFlow, http://www.dpbestflow.org/file-lifecycle/archive

• “File Format Migration.” by Peter Krogh. dpBestFlow. http://www.dpbestflow.org/node/386