Help scanning photos with silver in them!

[Pixeljockey]

HI.

I have some old prints I’d like to work on that have silver in them. Whenever I scan them the silver creates a stippled white haze over the darker portions of the image.

I have Katrin’s book and have actually spoken with her. I was fortunate enough to ask her the question while at a NAPP seminar in NYC. I also asked Scott Kelby and Dave Cross. The only suggestion offered was from Katrin. She suggested photographing the print at a certain angle.

Given the sheer number of "silver" photos that must be out there, I can’t help but feel that there is some trick to scanning them properly.

Any suggestions?

Thanks so much for any advice.

Mike D.

[Xaran]

The main problem with scanning is that the light from the scanner reflects off of the silvering. The usual recommendation is to photograph with a digital camera under natural shaded light - no direct sunlight.

One other thing you could try is scanning from different directions and seeing if one way gives better results or you get results that can be merged.

Christine

[Ed_L]

I think it was Roger who put a tutorial together on this subject. It's on this site. If you don't find it, let us know. We'll direct you to it.

Ed

[Pixeljockey]

Thanks for the quick responses. Right after I posted, I found the scanning tutorial and plan to try the multiple scan method. I don't have a digital camera with high enough resolution to go the other way.

A friend of mine suggested that I try stretching a pair of women's pantyhose over the scanner glass. Supposedly the light gets diffused through the mesh and improves the scan. Then you have to deal with the pattern but that is supposedly not as bad.

My new scanner should be in by Wednesday this week. I will try all these methods then and post the results.

Thanks.

[Shoff]

How did it work?