From: white@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Susan White RTM)
Newsgroups: soc.roots
Subject: summary of responses about old pictures
Summary: a LONG summary of responses about old photos: copying, preserving...
Keywords: photo, copying, preserving
Date: 30 Jul 92 01:41:26 GMT
Organization: RIACS, NASA Ames Research Center


Fellow Ancestor Hunters interested in Copying/Preserving old 
Photos,   and Taking Advatage of Accumulated Knowledge!

	I have summarized below the bulk of the sometimes extensive 
replies to my request for help on copying old pictures as well as my 
own reading and unsuccessful attempts.  I've also included some 
closely related material, collected  and forwarded by netters.
	Thanks very much to everybody who replied!  
-Susan White

Special Thanks to:
Richard Asano
Cari Tuttle
Paul Shafer
Robert Formica
Bob Epley
Frank Deis
dkortenk
cmdarby
and one other whose name I deleted accidently,
who contributing their own experiences,
and summarized many previous postings.

Copying the original picture by yourself:
	Since you don't need to borrow the picture from your relative 
or an archive, and you probably have dozens you'd like copies of, this 
is an attractive option.  You can do a good straighforward job with 
available equipment, or a truly professional and archival job, 
depending.     Reference: Kodak has an excellent book on making 
copies of art work and old photos. Publication M-1, "Copying and 
Duplicating in black and white and color". 


Suggested set-up, from the minimal to maximal.
Several people had good luck with a 35mm Nikon, a tripod and slow 
film, one even with tintypes and Daguerrotypes:
1) Either use a tripod or a copy stand,  to hold the film plane exactly 
parallel to the old photo and use two lights at 45 degrees or else use 
diffuse daylight.   Check if your local library,  college or rental 
darkroom has a copy stand you can use.
2) either a macro lense (best) or screw on close up adapter rings or 
diopters ( a set of 1, 2, 3 x power) (nearly as good, much cheaper).  A 
zoom-macro lens gives a fuzzy picture.
3) Choose a medium or slow speed filmwhich gives you smaller grain 
size, which in turn improves the quality of your prints.
Some folks suggested were Kodak Technical Pan film (a special high-
coontrast copying film), TRI-X, some, regular slow color film.      For 
large-format negatives  there are the professional films which come 
in sheets,  you will want the blue-sensitive films to reduce the 
effects of yellowing, and the professional copy film 4125 to increase 
contrast.  If you're printing a black and white picture yourself, you 
can match the paper to the film response. See Kodak's book.
4) cable release so you don't shake the camera when you shoot.
5) But What Kind of Camera?:    A SLR camera with a mirror lock-up, 
like Nikon, would be better than other SLR cameras, (like my 
Olympus ;-)  to cut out one more source of vibration.  You can also 
rent a large-format camera and accesories for $30-$45 a day to 
produce 2.5 X2.5 inch or 4  by 5 inch negatives, if you don't own one. 
6) Depending on your film choice, many but not all respondents used 
red, orange and yellow filters.  (The filters are for stained or faded 
photos.  Yellow washes out yellow stains and increases the contrast 
of your photo slightly.  Orange adds more contrast.  Red adds the 
most contrast and may take care of Sepia toning.)   Blue or polarizing 
filters can also be used to deal with reflections from bent tintypes, 
according to one book. 
7) a gray card-ofton reccomended.  (The gray card will give you an 
accurate light reading.  The light reading off of the photos isn't 
correct. ) 
8) Test the exposures: You could shoot several different exposures so 
you can choose the best, but keep good notes so you can stick with 
the best.    One netter suggested stopping down all the way for a slow 
exposure, but check out the middle range of your lens.  Consider 
taking a picture of a sheet of graph paper to check for focus, camera 
shake.
9) If you are developing the negatives yourself, you can 'push' it.

New technology approaches:
	Scanning the picture into a Mac or PC and use the appropriate 
software, e.g. Photoshop, to process the image.  Great potential, but 
limited by the printer and scanner resolution. Look for future 
advances in this technology.
	Color xeroxing is dropping in price, gives you immediate 
gratification, and the image surprisingly good, although the color is 
usually a little off and a little detail is lost. The images may not last, 
though.  You can arrange small pictures on a background sheet, so 
the xerox person wont handle them directly (either in the final, 
album-form with captions, or close together, which you can cut apart 
and rearrange for the final copy or so you'll pay for fewer copies).
 
Having a new negative shot by a professional.
	If you only have a few pictures to copy and you are able to 
borrow the picture from whoever has it,  or you don't have the 
equipment available, especially for problem cases,  try to have a 
good LOCAL photographer shoot the new negative, so you don't run 
the small risk of losing the pictures in the mail.  (There are less 
expensive mail-order places, look in Everton's Genealogical Helper).  
Call around, because the photographers prices vary interestingly.  
Around here, it was around $15-$17 for getting1 negative shot and 
developed plus one 8 X 10 print, but extra 3X5 prints were 50 cents 
to $5, at the two extremes!  Sepia toning was extra but reasonable.

Restoring the original picture.
	It is possible to restore the picture, by chemically processing the 
original to bring out a better image than the current one, but do not let 
any photographer do it who isn't trained as a conservator, as you 
may lose the image.   Ask for recommendations from a historical 
collection, library or museum, but talk to the curator or person in 
charge of their photography collections.  A professional job will 
probably cost in the $100 - $500 range.  They will have to see the 
photo to give you an estimate.    Generally it's better to have a new 
negative shot and do all retouching to the new negative.   And of 
course you can then have any number of copies made for relatives!

Storing old photographs:
	First, the immediate problem - preventing further damage.  Keep them 
DRY and COOL.  The image on the surface of most photographs is in a geletin
coating, and this can be damaged by either heat or moisture.  High light
levels can also be a problem, as residual chemicals can be present.
	Go to the local art shop and buy some some acid-free envelopes or 
acid-free mat board ("conservation board"), to store these photos 
between, and get them away from standard, run-of-the-mill paper.
A company called Light Impressions (1-800-828-6216) also has 
everything you could want. 

Regarding Old Albums:
	You may want to shoot a picture of the whole album page, and 
print it in 8X10 format.  It saves time and you dont have to try to 
detach the pictures, which may seriously disturb your relatives.
One contributer described handling old, disorganized albums:
First, xerox the album as is, including blowups of especially 
interesting shots.  Sometimes the increased contrast improved the 
images enough that the xeroxxes were suitable for framing.   A 
videotape including close-ups (with narrative?? this could be great!) 
was also made which was very popular with the relatives, but 
caution: VCR tapes are not as permanent a record as movie tapes or 
photos.  Editor's caution: I wouldn't do the following to 'really old' 
pictures.  If you can't remove some too-well glued-on pictures to see 
what's on the back or to reorganise them, soak the pages in distilled 
water to loosen the glue, checking frequently for bleeding ink, 
bleeding sepia tone, pictures sticking together, etc.  Gently pry the 
picture off, with, for example, a "knife" made of metal straping.  Line 
or squeegee dry.

References:
	Kodak also has a free pamphlet, which is a good place to start.
The two books noted below will answer many of the questions we have
about care for old photos.  Both are published by Eastman Kodak Co.
Both are available from the library or from:
Rochester Institue of Technology/Image Permanence Institute/RIT City
Center/50 W. Main St./Rochester, NY  14614-1274.
- CARE AND IDENTIFICATION OF 19TH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS, by
  James M. Reilly.  l986.  116 pp. plus wall chart.  $24.95
_ CONSERVATION OF PHOTOGRAPHS, by George T. Eaton.  Date not given.
  $29.95.

There were also people and labs recommended, which were not 
included here as they may be out of date.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU