Fragmented picture

[Brinse]

Hello,
I have a 80+/- year old photograph of my neighbor that is fragmented into four pieces. Total appx. size of the photo pieced together is roughly 10in wide and 14in high. The pic is in pretty good shape surface wise. Wondering if I should try to scan each piece individually then stitch together in photoshop or piece them together on the floor, cover with glass, then shoot a picture and go from there. The pic pieces are fairly flat but bowed slightly.
Any help appreciated!!!! First post.....new to photo restoration.

[Kraellin]

hi brinse, and welcome to RP.

what i generally do on these is, put all the pieces in the scanner at the same time in generally the right positions. it doesnt have to be exact and they dont have to overlay or anything... just sort of close and sort of in the right order and proximity. i'll fix all that in paint shop pro. i just want a really good scan of the pieces, no matter how they're going to fit together later.

and you certainly can use a camera if you have one, but i wouldnt cover the pieces with glass... too much chance of an errant light reflection. but, if they're curved or curling or bent or something like then, then i suppose you could cover with something transparent. just be careful of reflections and bright spots.

and there are some folks here that prefer to do their 'scanning' with a digital camera rather than a scanner and may show up to help you even more than i can here. you might look around in the various forums for topics on this. i know some exist.

most scanners, at least those produced in the last few years, are going to give you a pretty good resolution, so that would be my first choice. besides, i dont have a digital camera with enough resolution right now to use it as a scanner.

[Brinse]

Thanks Craig for such a quick reply. I wanted to put the whole pic on the scanner, but it's about an inch short on all four sides. I guess I'll just experiment first with shooting it with the camera then scanning all individual pieces.

Thanks again for your input.

Regards,

Brinse

[Mike]

If you shoot with a camera and cover the original with glass:

Place your lights at 45 degree angles so any reflections will not be seen by the camera.

Make your exposure in a darkened room with no other lights on but the ones for your subject.

If you have a "shiny" camera you may have to cut a hole in a sheet of black paper and shoot through so the camera does not reflect in the glass. This may also apply to you, so you may have to stand back a remotely fire the camera so your hand does not reflect.

[mistermonday]

Hi Brinse,
Craig's method will work, but I prefer to scan each piece individually but make sure to turn OFF all of the scanner's auto settings - no descreen, no auto color, no auto contrast, no auto sharpening. That way all of the scans will match in lighting. You can work on a canvas which is a little larger (or a lot) than the 4 pieces and downsize it later. The digital stitching may be more accurate. Furthermore you will have each piece on its own layer so it will be easy to finesse them together.
Regards, Murray

[Brinse]

Craig, Mike and Murray....thanks for the tips. I'll start in the morning!

Best regards,

Brinse

[Kraellin]

thanks, mike. i was hoping you would post.