Digital BW, The Print

Recently I moved my mother into my home and became her full-time caregiver.  I closed and sold the house she lived in for fifty years.  I found boxes of photos dating back to the late 1800's.  
There are hundreds of them, and they vary in type and condition, but they are all black and white.  I want to copy/repair/enhance them.  I began by trying to find someone with a darkroom. 

Now.......In shopping for software and a scanner best suited to my needs, I have found that most stores are totally DIY .  I am not particularly computer literate.  I am sure there will be a steep learning curve. Therefore, I would appreciate advice about scanners and software best suited to my purpose and easiest to learn.  

Jodie


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello Jodie,

>There are hundreds of them, and they vary in type and 
>condition, but they are all black and white.  
>I want to copy/repair/enhance them.  

This will be a big job and is really three separate things:

1) making the scans 
2) how to manipulate the image files
3) how to make the images viewable

Each of these requires a piece of modern technology and a learning
curve.

For scanning, most any modern flatbed scanner will do a good job.  If
any of the photos are larger than 8x10 then it would require a larger
(more expensive) scanner.  An option here might be to get an 8x10
scanner and have any larger prints scanned commercially.

A big question is what resolution you want to scan them at.  If you
want to scan them for a CD or web site album that family members can
view with a browser, then low resolution scans are adequate.  If you
want to reprint them on a photo printer then higher resolution is
needed.  Higher resolution scans will produce bigger files and will
require more hard drive space.

For manipulating the images there are many programs for doing that,
beginning with Photoshop at the top ($600 and complex), to Photoshop
elements ($100, still complex but very capable) to Microsoft's new 
thingie ($89 I think...???, and probably easier to use), Picture
Window ($50 and somewhat complex) and so on down.  I'm sure others
here will have suggestions.  The main thing is that the more complex
it is the more it's capable of, so there's always a trade off.  You
have to find the right balance between what you'd like to accomplish,
how much you're willing to invest (time, money and effort), and how
well you do at learning computer type technical things.

For displaying the results, if you want to make a CD album or web
page, you must learn basic HTML writing and get a web page creating
program (there are lots of them and it's a whole 'nother subject). 
I've got a great basic HTML tutor that's been passed around for years
now, and it's still the best.  It will be a big help no matter what
program you use, and is highly recommended to work through this
(couple of hours) before buying a program.  It's easy and lots of fun.
 I can send it to you if you're interested.

If you want to reprint the photos on a photo printer then this forum
is the right place to be, and there are many issues to decide on. 
I'll leave it at that for now.  

This is just an overview, but I hope it helps to give some
perspective.
Peace, blessings and strength to you in your caregiving.

Regards, 
Clayton

Hi Clayton,

At 16:07 23/12/2002, you wrote:
>For displaying the results, if you want to make a CD album or web
>page, you must learn basic HTML writing and get a web page creating
>program (there are lots of them and it's a whole 'nother subject).
>I've got a great basic HTML tutor that's been passed around for years
>now, and it's still the best.  It will be a big help no matter what
>program you use, and is highly recommended to work through this
>(couple of hours) before buying a program.  It's easy and lots of fun.
>I can send it to you if you're interested.

Besides seconding all your suggestions to Jodie, I'd also be interested in 
this HTML tutorial; would it be possible for you to e-mail it, or perheaps 
post it on this group's archives?

Thank you,
and best wishes to all,

Paulo Baptista
www.teko.tk

Hello Paulo,

>Besides seconding all your suggestions to Jodie, I'd also be 
>interested in this HTML tutorial; would it be possible for you 
>to e-mail it, or perhaps post it on this group's archives?

Please send me an email and I'll mail it - it's only about 8k zipped.
I can't upload a file and can't figure out how to attach a file to an
email from here.

Regards, - cj

Hello All,

I goofed and picked the wrong folder.  It's not 8k but more like 1.6
mg.  I uploaded it to my web site, here's a download link.  It's a
terrific learning tool.

Regards,
Clayton


http://www.cjcom.net/files/webtutor.exe

INSTRUCTIONS - there are two ways to install this self extracting
file:

1) Open with a zip utility and tell it to extract with all folders

2) Run webtutor.exe from a command line with the -d switch like this

                   webtutor.exe -d

and it will self extract everything into the proper folders.


Then open index.htm in your browser.

Thanks Clayton,

I've just downloaded it and will give it a try tomorrow (it's gettting late 
here in Brazil).

Best regards,
Paulo

At 22:09 23/12/2002, you wrote:
>Hello All,
>
>I goofed and picked the wrong folder.  It's not 8k but more like 1.6
>mg.  I uploaded it to my web site, here's a download link.  It's a
>terrific learning tool.
>
>Regards,
>Clayton
>
>
><http://www.cjcom.net/files/webtutor.exe>http://www.cjcom.net/files/webtutor.exe
>
>INSTRUCTIONS - there are two ways to install this self extracting
>file:
>
>1) Open with a zip utility and tell it to extract with all folders
>
>2) Run webtutor.exe from a command line with the -d switch like this
>
>                    webtutor.exe -d
>
>and it will self extract everything into the proper folders.
>
>
>Then open index.htm in your browser.
>
>
>Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and 
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><http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint
>
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On 12/23/02 Jodie wrote:

>Recently I moved my mother into my home and became her full-time 
>caregiver.  I closed and sold the house she lived in for fifty 
>years.  I found boxes of photos dating back to the late 1800's.
>There are hundreds of them, and they vary in type and condition, but 
>they are all black and white.  I want to copy/repair/enhance them.

The "bible" for this sort of work, Jodie, has been Katrin Eismann's 
"Photoshop Restoration and Retouching". It might have some 
competition soon from Laurie Ann Ulrich's "Photoshop Elements 2 
Restoration and Retouching", which Wiley plans to publish in 
mid-February. I'd consider waiting for it. Because I think you 
probably should start with Photoshop Elements (for less than $100) 
and might very well never need Photoshop itself (for about $600).


>I began by trying to find someone with a darkroom.

Because you have negatives? I have almost none for the old family 
photos I inherited in similar circumstances.


>Now.......In shopping for software and a scanner best suited to my 
>needs, I have found that most stores are totally DIY.

In my experience it's been better both to do the homework on-line and 
to shop on-line for almost everything.


>I am not particularly computer literate. I am sure there will be a 
>steep learning curve.

Actually, I think the learning curve needn't be steep if you are 
willing to take an incremental approach - just chip away at the 
various parts and pieces of the process.


>Therefore, I would appreciate advice about scanners and software 
>best suited to my purpose and easiest to learn.

My suggestion is that you do a lot of homework before you buy 
anything - to avoid the risk that you might, for example, spend money 
on a scanner that would have been better spent on more RAM or a 
faster hard drive, etc.

In any case, unless money is no object (ha!), it's hard to know how 
to advise you without knowing what you already have in the way of a 
monitor and a computer and printer. But you might get all the 
software you need with the scanner. Lasersoft's Silverfast software 
came with my Epson scanner; all I've done is upgrade it from time to 
time. If I needed a new scanner, I'd get the successor to mine at 
Epson.

Hope this helps at least a little. I'll look forward to hearing how 
you progress with your plans.

Sam

Sam McCandless              samcc@...