Taking a Photo of a Photo
Sometimes the best photos are on the wall. They are often high resolution professional photos and we really want them for our site but how do you get them to us?
If you can take the photo out and scan it then please do so. If it's a very big picture it's OK to scan a section at a time as we have photo stitching software and we can digitally put it back together again.
If it's taped into the frame and you might damage the photo then PLEASE don't take it out. We are not in the business of damaging valuable photos. If possible take it to a professional photographer and get then to take a photo of it and give you the image on a disc. That can be expensive so here's how to do it yourself:
If you can take the photo out and scan it then please do so. If it's a very big picture it's OK to scan a section at a time as we have photo stitching software and we can digitally put it back together again.
If it's taped into the frame and you might damage the photo then PLEASE don't take it out. We are not in the business of damaging valuable photos. If possible take it to a professional photographer and get then to take a photo of it and give you the image on a disc. That can be expensive so here's how to do it yourself:
Prepare The Framed Photo
That basically means cleaning the glass. We don't want a photo of a century of dirt if we can help it. Try a soft glass cleaning cloth and only use a spray glass cleaner as a last resort if the glass is really dirty - the camera/scanner will pick up every smear and that will be worse than dirt. We can digitally remove specks of dirt, it's tricky to remove smears.
If there are small difficult spots of dirt or glass chips that doesn't matter - we can digitally remove those too.
If there are small difficult spots of dirt or glass chips that doesn't matter - we can digitally remove those too.
Getting Prepared
First of all we'll try to get a photo without using flash.
Take the picture to a room which is well lit by a window on a bright but not too sunny day. Put the picture at your head height perpendicular to the window. This will give you light but won't let the camera focus on the window.
Bring as many artificial lights as you can into the room. Switch on the overhead light and any floor standing or desk lamps you may have. Don't have them pointing directly at the photo. Basically you are trying to fill the room with light without pointing any of it directly at the photo.
Take the picture to a room which is well lit by a window on a bright but not too sunny day. Put the picture at your head height perpendicular to the window. This will give you light but won't let the camera focus on the window.
Bring as many artificial lights as you can into the room. Switch on the overhead light and any floor standing or desk lamps you may have. Don't have them pointing directly at the photo. Basically you are trying to fill the room with light without pointing any of it directly at the photo.
Take Your Shot
Actually you're going to take several! Always take several shots with any photo. The best shot is always the one you could have taken ...
Use a tripod if you have one. If you're standing keep your feet shoulder width apart and relax.
You MUST have the camera and the picture parallel to each other or you will completely mess up the perspective of everyone's heads. Stand directly in front of it, not at an angle.
Get ALL the picture in the shot, including the frame.
Take several shots and send them to me in emails or on a disc. Please provide as much information as you can about the people in the picture and if you discovered any useful tips while taking the photo we'd like them too please.
Use a tripod if you have one. If you're standing keep your feet shoulder width apart and relax.
You MUST have the camera and the picture parallel to each other or you will completely mess up the perspective of everyone's heads. Stand directly in front of it, not at an angle.
Get ALL the picture in the shot, including the frame.
Take several shots and send them to me in emails or on a disc. Please provide as much information as you can about the people in the picture and if you discovered any useful tips while taking the photo we'd like them too please.
Using Flash
It's worth taking a few flash shots as well in case they provide something useful or in case the other shots don't work out too well. Now, the problem is you will get a flash burn on the resulting photo, like this one below.
This is a very big photo in a frame. It worked out reasonably well because the flash burn doesn't actually cover anyone up but it does over expose the face of the boy bottom left (my grandfather, Tom Horswill, so I would rather not have his face over exposed!). Also, in order to get the flash burn off centre it was necessary to angle the camera which means the perspective is not quite right and in order to straighten the photo I nearly had to cut my great uncles' heads off.
If you have to use flash then do so but please take several shots at varying angles (as straight as you can to the photo but very slightly varying the angle). I can often merge two shots to get a picture without a flash burn. Not ideal, but better than nothing.
I can also disguise the flash burn in several ways in digital scrapbook layouts as in the example below.
If you have to use flash then do so but please take several shots at varying angles (as straight as you can to the photo but very slightly varying the angle). I can often merge two shots to get a picture without a flash burn. Not ideal, but better than nothing.
I can also disguise the flash burn in several ways in digital scrapbook layouts as in the example below.
Just Do Your Best!
We really want your old photos and will take what we can get. They say more than you think about our families. Because of this old photo I've shown you I've been able to identify people in other photos and work out more family relationship on the tree.. Just by looking but there is also fancy software on our family tree site for matching faces.
Any questions? Just ask.
Any questions? Just ask.
