Decent photography software-specifically to revieve ancient B+W photos pls

anonymousie

Hi
My elderly parents have a really good collection of old photos. Many are minute:rotfl: 2x1 inch maybe and the same size as the negs (cue shouts of "is that you mother or mine" etc!!). Some are bigger professional ones. None are huge. Some are damaged.

I would like to get a good, easy to use program that would allow me to scan in photos and enhance/restore/enlarge them (and adding a tag of who/where/when to the electronic image would be good too). We have a recently purchased scanner that is pretty good (though I might need a negative scanner in due course).

I want to get going on these as their Xmas pressie as they have enough "things". Being in their 80s and album of photos of "the old days" that they can actually see would be lovely.

Do I need adobe photoshop or similar?? Do I need "premier" or what- the choice is awfully tricky eg
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=blended&field-keywords=adobe%20photoshop%20elements&results-process=default&dispatch=search/ref=pd_sl_aw_tops-2_aps-books-uk_12704804_2&results-process=default

I don't want anything that will take over my pc photo handling etc as I like picasa (I think, maybe I'd like a new prog better ).

THanks folks!

isofa

Photoshop is the best there is, you'll probably be ok with the basic "Photoshop Elements" though for your purpose.

Premier is a video and movie editing program, you definitely don't need that.

The standard "Pro" edition of Photoshop (i.e. not Elements) at the moment is Photoshop CS3, there is also a Photoshop Premium edition, but you definitely don't need that, it has extra features for medical and design professionals, I have it in my CS3 design suite, and never make use of the extra features!

There are some great freeware programs, but Photoshop is amazing, however it is powerful and requires a learning curve.

Full details of the features are on Adobe's website at: www.adobe.com

amonra

Whatever program you end up with, dont expect miracles.
Old photos do not contain a lot of detail especialy those 2x1 shots, they will not enlarge to a decent size shot. If there are rips and tears on the photo then they can be repaired quite easily, as can spots, dust, and other marks. The secret is practice, practice, and still more practice.
God luck...............

bob_a_builder

The secret is practice, practice, and still more practice.

and the other P you forgot - Patience

isofa

I agree re a 2x1 print.

However if you scan the negatives, you'll be amazed at what detail is hidden, provided they've been stored resonably well (they tend to age much better than prints) - small 35mm pos and negs on dedicated slide scanners reveal an amazing amount of detail and tonal quality, not seen on the prints, scanning at something between 2500 and 4000 ppi (yes I mean ppi rather than dpi, i.e. pixels per inch!) will give an excellent output.

There are a couple of "good" flatbeds which scan negatives to a resonable quality from Canon and Epson (Canon ones also have medium format film adapters), but if you want to spend some decent money on dedicated slide scanner such as one from Canon or Nikon, you'll get some excellent results. I've been using a Canon Canoscan slide scanner for many years for older positive mounted and unmounted negatives - and I've always been impressed.

anonymousie

isofa wrote: »

I agree re a 2x1 print.

However if you scan the negatives, you'll be amazed at what detail is hidden, provided they've been stored resonably well (they tend to age much better than prints) - small 35mm pos and negs on dedicated slide scanners reveal an amazing amount of detail and tonal quality, not seen on the prints, scanning at something between 2500 and 4000 ppi (yes I mean ppi rather than dpi, i.e. pixels per inch!) will give an excellent output.

There are a couple of "good" flatbeds which scan negatives to a resonable quality from Canon and Epson (Canon ones also have medium format film adapters), but if you want to spend some decent money on dedicated slide scanner such as one from Canon or Nikon, you'll get some excellent results. I've been using a Canon Canoscan slide scanner for many years for older positive mounted and unmounted negatives - and I've always been impressed.

Thanks for the info re the 2x1 negs- they are still there (as is a glass plate neg of a photo of my dad and his bro from about 1929 when he was 5 or 6yrs old!).
Actually I was surprised by the quality of he prints of the 2x1s they are pretty sharp- if I could just double the size then that would be plenty so old eyes could see who was in the pics!

THe funniest was "I think that is my mum, your mum and our joyce" (it was too!) reply "no it can't be, my mother never met your Joyce":rotfl: Oh yes she did- you have the photo to prove it:rotfl:

isofa

If you only have a handful of the glass based negatives, you could take them into a good pre-press bureaux and they could do a high quality scan for you on some professional equipment, will cost £10-20 per scan, but if you'd only got a few, it's cheaper than spending hundreds (if not thousands) on a good slide scanner! Look in the back of magazines such as MacUser for bureaux local to you, or do a Google.

Stephen_Leak

For a good quality general purpose document and photo scanner, I would recommend the Canon LiDE ones.

For photo editing software, for the beginner to serious amateur and even small business user, you cannot beat Adobe Photoshop Elements. The full CS version is a fully featured industry standard professional program, with a price tag to match. Elements has all the features you will need, plus lots more you didn't know you needed. It also has an excellent help system.