Google PhotoScan: simple photo digitization. How to digitize old photos How to digitalize old photos

Today, almost every family has a digital camera. Five-year-old children probably do not even know that their grandparents once captured their lives on film cameras, and then independently developed the photographs using special light-sensitive materials and chemicals. Starting somewhere in 1990, such equipment gradually lost ground, making room for digital devices. However, to this day, in the attics of our parental homes, one can still find priceless deposits of developed photographic films and 35-mm transparent slides in neat plastic cases, which used to be shown at noisy home dinners, projecting images onto a white sheet.

The film has its advantages and disadvantages. The most important of them is the gradual loss of quality, although this happens much more slowly than many people imagine. Fortunately for us, special devices have been invented today that allow you to turn photographic films and slides into digital format, thereby preserving precious memories forever. Old films today are easily digitized and even restored by software, bringing back the brilliance of a bygone life.

So, to digitize films and slides, you will need:

1. Scanning device.
2. Software.

Scanners

Most so-called MFPs that allow you to print, copy and scan documents, such as the Canon Pixma MG8120, Epson Artisan 725 or Artisan 835, come with an integrated flatbed scanner that is quite suitable for scanning photographs. However, as a rule, such embedded devices are characterized by poor performance. Therefore, it is better to prefer a flatbed scanner that has a special remote module for scanning 35mm films. Among the most popular models, we will advise you to stop, for example, at Canon CanoScan 9000F. This flatbed scanner provides high resolution film and slide scanning at good speed. So if you have a ton of slides, then you will save yourself time and nerves.

The main advantage of scanners like the CanoScan 9000F is that they can scan several slides at the same time, while the device software cuts individual frames on its own. True, this slightly increases the processing time of each scan, but it is not critical at all. Keep in mind that scanning multiple slides will only be effective if you have a dedicated film tray. If not, then the amount of time you spend editing and splitting images into separate files will eat into the time saved in the scanning process.

There are also so-called professional film slide scanners, for example, from Nikon, but their prices are quite high, but the quality of the resulting digital image is incomparably better. Slide scanners are designed to scan a variety of film formats, not just 35mm, in addition, they allow you to work with both positives and negatives, providing a very significant productivity. At the same time, the company guarantees accurate color reproduction, and high-quality software allows you to automatically adjust the quality of the resulting image.

All scanners come with utilities that provide basic image editing functions - dewarping, denoising, cropping frames, adjusting color, contrast and brightness. As a rule, these options work at a good level. But in order to fix film flaws such as water damage, cuts, tears and smudges, you will have to work on the resulting digital image using special software.

Saving images

Scanned images can be saved in any format. The most common and commonly used is JPEG, but this format has some drawbacks. The most important is "compression", which is characterized by the loss of nuances and details. If that matters to you, then it's best to save scanned digital images as TIFF files. TIFF files take up more space than JPEGs and can save photos both uncompressed and compressed, but without losing image quality. In addition, TIFF files are great for further editing using specialized programs. Remember one more rule: never compress an image several times, this will degrade its quality many times over.

Choosing a Resolution

Most drivers and utilities of modern scanners independently choose the best image resolution depending on the type of medium, the balance between file size and image quality. If you're going to be printing regular 10 x 15 photos, then you'll need to set the resolution to between 150 and 200 dpi. If you are going to turn your old photographs into real works of art, then choose as high a resolution as possible - up to 600 or even 1200-1600 pixels per inch. In this case, you can work on every detail, save every little detail of your past. Before choosing a resolution, experiment with the settings and choose the quality that suits you.

Software

Naturally, professionals will choose software of the level that is currently in the CS5 version. The program costs $599, so it is unlikely to suit ordinary users. A simpler and, most importantly, cheaper option will be, which will cost you only $ 99. Photoshop Elements 9 provides the same tools for removing image imperfections, including smudges and scratches, as well as many more advanced tools that will please any user. . Many experts consider this program to be one of the best for home use.

If you do not intend to shell out money for licensed software, pay attention to the free bitmap editor - Gnu Image Manipulation Program or for short. Despite the unfortunate name and somewhat awkward interface, this is a fairly powerful program that has almost the same set of tools as the famous Photoshop, gives good results and, as already mentioned, absolutely for free.

Having a good flatbed scanner is not enough to produce high quality digital images. It is important that it is in excellent condition, otherwise your scanned images may show additional imperfections in the form of white dust crumbs, dark grease spots and other things. Therefore, before starting the scan, we advise you to clean the device (if it is not new). To do this, you can use special Defender wipes or a soft, lint-free cloth moistened with:

In liquid for washing glasses;
. in liquid for washing optics (ordinary glasses);
. liquid to remove dirt from LCD screens.

After removing dirt and dust, wipe the scanner glass dry without using materials that could scratch or damage it. Never use alcohol, water, all kinds of solvents.

How better quality slides, the less time you spend on correcting deficiencies. Therefore, before scanning, films and slides should be cleaned of dirt and dust. Special non-abrasive wipes and products for safe cleaning of photographic materials can be found in specialized photo stores. There are several ways to care for films:

Dust removal with a can of compressed air. Do not heat or shake the can so that it does not spray the films with water, in which case you will have to wash and dry the films. For effective cleaning, stock up on white cotton gloves and patience. Press the cylinder button gently, hold the slides themselves by the edges so that the jet of compressed air is directed at them from the side at a distance of about 8 cm.
. Cleaning with antistatic wipes. When using napkins, hold the film or slide by the edges, gently wrap the napkin so that it fits on both sides, without pressing, slide the napkin along the entire length of the film or slide.
. Film cleaning with water. The hardest and longest way. Attach the uncut films to the clothesline in the bathroom with clothespins, and if the films are cut into individual slides, then straighten the paper clip, thread through the perforation window of the slide and also hang on the rope. Gently, so that the films and slides do not touch or scratch each other, pour them with cold water at a temperature of 5 - 10 degrees from the shower for 20 - 30 minutes. Blow off drops of water with cold air, blot them with dry Defender wipes.

Attention: handle all photographic materials with extreme care! Handle transparencies and slides by the edges only. Never touch the photosensitive emulsion applied to one side of the films with your fingers. Even if it seems to you that your hands are absolutely clean and dry, a small amount of salt and fat from our skin will leave prints on the film.

It's good if you have a special tray that holds the film on the scanner. Otherwise, you will have to take care of how to attach it to the glass. Never use household tape or adhesive tape for this purpose. The problem is that they leave traces on the photographic materials and the scanner glass, which are practically not washed off by anything. It is best to use special pH-neutral art tapes that are used for decoration work. At the same time, they should still be attached not to the glass, but only to the frame around it.

Digital copies do not lose their brightness, they can be processed, printed, shared with relatives and friends. But before that, you will have to choose a method for converting an image to a file - scanning or taking a photo. Let's talk in detail about each of these options.

Using a Scanner or MFP

Scanners count the best option digitization of any image. The advantages of this method:

• high definition photos, not inferior to the original;
• the absence of reflections, glare and dust accidentally caught in the photo on the copy;
• the ability to speed up the digitization process - on one A4 scanner you can simultaneously scan 2-3 photos 10 x 15 or 9 x 13 cm;
• Some scanner models are equipped with photo compartments, which simplifies the digitizing process.
• One of the specialized scanners is the Epson Perfection V600 Photo. This model also has a film adapter that allows you to digitize negatives.

Epson scanner is great for digitizing photos

If you do not need additional functions for working with film, you can use any MFP with a built-in scanner - for example, HP Ink Tank Wireless 419, about which.

Scan process

For digitization, choose a flatbed scanner. Drum units in which the original image moves can ruin a photo - especially an old one and printed on photo paper. In a flatbed device, the photo remains still and will not be damaged by scanning.

During the digitization process, scanning parameters are selected - clarity, number of colors, size and image format. If necessary, the area of ​​the image to be scanned is indicated, contrast or brightness is increased.

When finished, the scanner can automatically save the digitized photo in the selected format. The best option is to save photos in JPEG. If the photo will be processed, you should choose the TIFF or PNG format.

Features of digitization using a scanner

The quality of the resulting image will depend on the original image and the capabilities of the scanning device. However, the user can set scan settings that will retain all the features of the original and even enhance it. Best scan settings for any scanner or MFP:

• If the photos will be processed or printed, the resolution should be set to the maximum for this model. For viewing on a phone or PC screen, 600 dpi is enough, if possible, set 1200 dpi.
• The color bit depth of the scanned image should be chosen at least 24. If the scanner supports 48 bits, you can set this value, but the file size will increase noticeably.
• If the photos occupy only part of the glass, it is worth highlighting only this area, speeding up the scanning process several times (especially if the maximum clarity is selected).

For digitization, you can use standard programs MFP, and built-in operating system utilities. However, there are specialized applications that provide more options - for example, photo recognition, automatic rotation and saving in separate files. Many of them are available for free on the websites of printer manufacturers.

Recapture on camera

Scanners and MFPs are not often bought for home use. If digitization is required for several hundred or thousands of images, the purchase of a scanning device will be justified. In order to convert a small photo album into a “digit”, you can use the equipment that is much more common at home - a camera. Not necessarily mirrored and professional - even a “soap dish” with a resolution of 8-12 megapixels is enough.

Before converting the old photo to a file using digital camera you will have to perform several actions - prepare the device and place for placing pictures, and adjust the lighting. It is advisable not to hold the camera in your hands, but to install it on a tripod or other flat surface. The photograph should preferably be placed 25-30 cm from the lens.

During shooting, it is desirable to fix the camera on a tripod.

Lighting is chosen so that the photo is well lit, but without glare. The ideal option is to digitize photos during the day in a well-lit room or on the street (terrace, balcony, loggia) in cloudy weather. If the photo paper is glossy, you should avoid direct light on it, due to which glare will appear on the digitized image. When shooting in artificial lighting conditions, you can use a fairly powerful table lamp or, if one is not available, do the work directly under the chandelier.

An important point when photographing an image is to achieve such an angle between the lens and the photo that there would be no reflections. When reshooting a glossy photograph, you should not set it perpendicular to the axis of the lens and exactly opposite its center. In this case, a reflection will be noticeable in the dark areas of the image, requiring serious processing in the editor. The picture should be moved until the glare disappears.

Reshoot process

After preparing to shoot, a photographer who digitizes old photographs will have to perform the following steps:

1. Adjust the camera using the zoom to zoom in on the image so that it completely occupies the viewfinder. Activate macro mode using the button, which usually has a flower on it.
2. Turn off the flash, which may cause glare in the picture.
3. Set the white balance, taking into account the light source and weather conditions.
4. Set the self-timer to avoid vibration.
5. Press the shutter and move away from the camera so that there is no reflection of the photographer on the finished frame.

The advantage of using a camera is that the pictures are almost the same quality as when scanning. Cons - you have to spend a lot more time. In addition, not everyone has cameras either - most users prefer to shoot on a smartphone.

Digitizing photos with a smartphone

The quality of the image taken with a smartphone camera will be lower than when scanning or using professional equipment. But for personal use, the retaken picture is fine. The main thing is not just to take a picture of a printed picture, putting it in front of you on the table, but to do it right, using a special application for your smartphone.

You need good lighting to shoot. The recommended resolution of the smartphone camera is at least 8 megapixels. As a scanning application, you can choose a convenient, easy-to-use and free utility "Photo Scanner by Google Photos".

The Photo Scanner application allows you to do without a professional camera, replacing it with almost any smartphone on Android or iOS. The user procedure is as follows:

1. From the Play Market or the AppStore, the Google Photos Photo Scanner program is downloaded and installed.
2. The photo is placed on a plain, flat surface.
3. The application turns on and two functions are activated - an icon in the form of a magic wand and a flash. This will avoid glare and overexposed areas of the image.
4. The phone is set in such a position that the photo is in the frame, after which the button to start scanning is pressed.
5. The resulting photo is processed using a green circle, which allows you to remove glare from the image. After the recapture is completed, all photos are saved on the phone.

The result of using the program will not be as high quality as digitizing a photo using a scanner or a good camera. But almost everyone can “scan” in this way, and most schoolchildren already have phones with a camera. And PhotoScanner removes noise from the image, allowing you to save time on further processing. However, the digitized image is still worth improving using special editors, which we will discuss in the next article.

An introduction to digitization usually starts with photographs. Creating large collections takes a lot of time, so first of all, clean up your photo archives, putting aside blurry, fuzzy, and generally meaningless pictures. Before starting the process, gently wipe the photos with a slightly damp microfiber cloth. Blow open dusty boxes with photographs first with compressed air to remove large debris, and then brush off finer dirt with a dust brush.

The best way is to scan

The best result in the digitizing process can be obtained using a scanner. For this special equipment is not required at all - it will be enough to use the scanning module of an inexpensive MFP. Be sure to clean the glass surface of the scanner before starting work.

The minimum required resolution for scanning a photo is 300 dpi, but in reality a good combination of quality, scan time and memory usage is up to 600 dpi. If you plan to print photos in large format in the future, you can set the scanner to the maximum resolution for individual photos on paper. If you intend to further process your photos, save them in the TIFF format, which uses lossless compression.

Photos on paper are easiest to digitize with a scanner - an MFP will be enough

If the photographs are intended only for viewing on the screen or for publication in social networks, JPEG and PNG formats are also suitable. The default color is 24-bit (8 bits per channel). Many scanners also support 48-bit - sounds more impressive, but for display or printing, this difference does not matter. However, if you plan on large-scale processing, it is better to use 48-bit depth, even if your image editor does not support 48-bit color. Photoshop, of course, will cope, but Photoshop Elements - only partially.

For rich slide collections, we recommend using a film scanner such as Reflecta's DigitDia 6000

We recommend using the scanning programs pre-installed in Windows and OS X operating systems rather conditionally - they are inconvenient. It is not necessary to spend money on special scanning software - you can usually find it on the websites of scanner manufacturers for free. With the help of such software, for example, you can scan many photos in one fell swoop, then the program recognizes different pictures, automatically separates them, aligns them and saves the result in separate files, so that later you can easily and easily create archives of scanned images. You can then process the photos, for example, using the Paint.NET editor.

If you don't have the time, inclination, or equipment to do your own scanning, check out photo scanning services, usually found in supermarkets and also online.

Slides and negatives

CanoScan 9000F Mark II scans slides and negatives at 4800 dpi

To digitize transparencies and negatives, you will need a scanner with a slide module with a resolution of 2800 dpi or more. If the pictures are large, the resolution should be even 4800 dpi. For a foreseeable number of slides, so-called adapters for copying slides for digital cameras- quite an affordable alternative if the rest of the camera equipment is already available. The third option is special scanners for digitizing slides and negatives, they can be bought at a price of up to 7,000 rubles.

Nikon ES-1 is an adapter
for lenses designed
for digitizing slides

Large collections can contain several thousand slides, and it will take more than one month to scan them. If you don't want to mess around with old photos for so long, contact a specialized service or get a film scanner that feeds frames with frames one by one, like a projector. The photo on the right shows one of these devices - Reflecta's DigitDia 6000. The nominal resolution of 5000 dpi is unlikely to tempt anyone, but for a picture in A5 format and displaying the quality of a digitized photograph, it is enough. The price of 115,000 rubles scares off, but used devices are offered on eBay.com at a lower price. In addition, after completing the digitization procedure for your collection, the scanner can also be sold on eBay or the Avito classifieds site.

PHOTO: Juliane Weber; Hewlett Packard; Fujitsu; Sony; manufacturing companies

Google has released another app! It is unlikely that anyone will be surprised by this, since the company's "park" of applications is already quite impressive. Nevertheless, we have prepared a short story about a new product that will help you digitize old photos from your home archive, and possibly improve them a little.

Gone are the days when, in order to obtain a digital image from a regular photo printed on paper, you had to connect a scanner to your computer and, using special software, scan the photos almost one at a time. Now they have been replaced by special ones for smartphones. And then Google also presented its vision of solving this problem.

The novelty is called PhotoScan and is available on both Android and iOS. The principle of its operation is based on the acquisition of five images, which are subsequently brought together to obtain the best result.

When you first start the program helpfully demonstrates what exactly needs to be done to get the finished image. Namely, it shows how to first point the frame at the entire photo, and then sequentially point the “sight” at the circles in the corners of the image.

Actually, as it is said, it should be done. First, we point the camera so that the image fits in its entirety, and take the first photo.

Well, after that we are engaged in catching points in the corners. It is worth noting that this process is quite simple on most photographs, but sometimes it is not possible to catch a point the first time and you have to wait a bit until the image is recognized.

Once the scans are ready, you can do whatever you want with them. For example, save to the gallery, send by mail, upload to Google Drive and much more. The main thing is that now what was on paper and lay in the dustiest corner is not only better preserved from the ravages of time, but is always with you if necessary.

In general, Google turned out to be a good application that deserves to take a place in the phone's memory along with other applications from a well-known developer. Of course, there are many other options for scanners, but Google has a lot of experience with images, which will undoubtedly help them gain their share of the scanning audience.

Appendix: PhotoScan Developer: Google Category: Applications Version: 1.0 Price: For free Download: Google Play Already interested in the application: 1281 Human

My Scanner

So, first of all, we need a flatbed scanner. Scanners come in different types and qualities. For high-quality digitization of photographs, it is advisable to use scanners with an optical resolution of 2400DPI and a CCD matrix. It is highly recommended to use a separate scanner and not any kind of MFP. Typically, in such devices (MFP - multifunctional device, printer + scanner + copier), scanners of poor quality are installed, they are only suitable for photocopying. Some models of flatbed scanners come with a slide module - a device that allows you to scan 35mm film. Such devices cost from 150 USD.

2 step

Photo placement

Connect the scanner to the PC, turn on its power. Open the scanner cover and place the photo in the upper right corner (see illustration). Lower the lid carefully. You can scan a photo using any graphic editor, as well as using a scanner driver.

3 step

Driver window

To scan using the driver, find your scanner in the device list. Right click on it and click "scan". The driver window will open. If you are going to print photos, then it is recommended to select the "photo" scanning mode and the maximum resolution. If you do not want to lose photo quality, then choose the BMP format (this format takes up a lot of disk space), otherwise choose the JPEG format (this format uses compression, so quality loss is inevitable). However, please note that by selecting the maximum scan quality, you will receive files of several hundred megabytes in size; on weak PCs, such files will take a very long time to open.

4 step

Scan result

Scanning with editors is very easy. You need to select “get image from ...” in the “file” menu and select the desired scanner. The system will prompt you to save the scanned file, give it a name and save. After that, the file can be processed in any graphics editor, such as Adobe Photoshop or PaintNet.

• When scanning black and white photos select a similar mode in the driver, you can also select the "grayscale" mode.
• If you do not plan to print photos, then a photo resolution of 1600x1200 will be enough for you (and this resolution is enough to print a 10x15 photo).