Opening Day 4: The Slides are Back!

Slide Enhanced by ScanDigital

Color faded slide from the 1960s, uncorrected Tif

On Opening Day 2, I opened a large box of slides. Knowing how long it takes to scan a slide and make the necessary corrections, I wanted to try using a photo digitization service. Armed with a 60% discount, I decided to give ScanDigital a try. Alternative digitizing companies are listed in Opening Day 2.

The same slide, manually cropped and auto-corrected in LR

 Yesterday the slides were returned along with DVD copies of the digital images - perfect timing for Opening Day 4! The slides were scanned at 4800 ppi as both Tiffs and Jpgs. There is an extra charge to get the scans in uncorrected Tiff format. Photo editing software is continually improving and I wanted to have an unaltered version to use in the future. Next time, I may not bother as the enhancement done by ScanDigital was not heavy-handed and exceeded results achieved using auto-corrections in Lightroom (LR). It is important to convert the Jpgs to Tiffs on import. (Always save at least one copy of all archival digital photographs in a Tiff or other loss-less format.)

Below are some examples of common slide problems before and after correction.

Uncorrected Tif with color darkening

Optimized by ScanDigital

This slide is both faded and has deteriorated, shown here with no corrections

After optimization, the colors have been corrected

but no extensive and potentially damaging corrections were made.

For an excellent and detailed discussion on the care and handling of slides, see Handling and Preservation of Color Slide Collections. The 30-page chapter also includes an extensive discussion of slide types and typical preservation issues involved with each type.

Opening Day 2: Slide Box

Its opening day! This is the second box in my voyage of discovery through boxes of memorabilia rescued from attics and closets. I didn't realize there were this many different types of slides!  These are the first slides I've run across so I need to decide how I'm going to catalog, digitize and archive them.

I've tried to scan slides before with less than ideal results.  Digital image processing services?  These might be an excellent option for handling the slides.  Digital image processing centers take the photographic materials you send (or hand deliver) and scan them for you.  The originals are returned along with a digital copy of your photographs or slides.  Different processing centers handle different media (slides, photographs, etc.) and offer different options for the size of the digital image.  Images might be mailed to you on DVDs or hard drives or put online.

There are many different services and many reviews on the web including Mac World's "Outsource your Photo Scanning Projects."  A few of the more popular services are: ScanDigital, Digital Pickle, ScanMyPhotos, Digital Scanning Services, ScanCafe, Lee Digital Scanning, FotoBridge, Larsen Digital Services, SlidestoDigital, DigMyPics. 

Slides have many of the same archival storage requirements as photographs – about 70 degrees (cooler is better) and 30 percent relative humidity.  They can be safely stored in carousels, polypropylene sleeves or slide boxes.  All storage materials should be photo-safe.  I’ve elected to store my slides in boxes since they will take less room, do not require upright storage like a binder and have passed the Photo Activity Test.

I'm left with two questions to explore further - slide sizes and digital imaging services.  If you've ever used a digital imaging service, I'd love to learn about your experiences!  Know of a great resource on the history of slides that include their sizes?  Pass it along!

Sources:

Long, Jane S. and Richard W. Long.  Caring for your Family Treasures.  New York:  Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2000.

Taylor, Maureen A.  Preserving your Family Photographs.  Charleston:  Picture Perfect Press, 2010.