Cleaning pics...

Hi...

Perhaps I'm preaching to the choir here, but then
again maybe I've "invented" something helpful for
those among us who are archiving old photos... ?

If the first case, I apologize, otherwise read on.

Building an archive of those old pics that the girls
used to buy from the school once a year. Some carried
in my wallet for years, not in good condition.


Naturally I don't have the negs, so scanning them on
a flatbed. One had a terrible mark right on the
kids eye. Bad enough that no cloning or smearing
would make it acceptable.

Looked at the bed, clean as a whistle. Looked at
the pic with glasses and magnifying glass; my old
eyes couldn't see it. Tried again and again on
different parts of the bed, still exactly the same.

So, last ditch effort. Took a piece of ordinary
paper towel, put the pic on flat desk, and rubbed it
gently but firmly for perhaps 60 seconds. Blew it off,
tried again, and it was gone!!! I could see no
difference, but the scanner sure did.

But perhaps more important, and of interest to
you guys - tons of marks in other less important
areas were gone too. The "clean up" of this
pic went from 10 minutes work to just a few seconds.

SO much difference that now I have to do all of them
all over again

But perhaps helpful to the rest of you engaged in
similar tasks.

Take care.

Ken

disappeared! I could see *no*

"Ken Weitzel" wrote in message news:WxIYc.272777$gE.133471@pd7tw3no...
...
So, last ditch effort. Took a piece of ordinary
paper towel, put the pic on flat desk, and rubbed it
gently but firmly for perhaps 60 seconds. Blew it off,
tried again, and it was gone!!! I could see no
difference, but the scanner sure did.
....

Hmmmm.

I wonder if it was some sort of grease or oil,
for example from finger prints, that only shows
up if the light is shining directly on it. If so, you
might need one of those shiny mirror gizmos
that opticians use with the hole in the center to
focus light on it to see it with your eye.

Maybe try using a CD-ROM as a reflector.
Look through the hole while reflecting a bright
light via the CD on an uncleaned image and
see if the dirt shows up.

If it is oil or grease, I bet there's some solvent
you could use that would clean it up nicely,
dissolving the oil without damaging the print.
I know conservators have solvents that they
wipe on old master paintings to clean them
without damaging the paint. But I don't know
what they use.

If you find out more, please let us know.

Thanks for the report. I'll remember it when
I scan old photos.

Alan

"Ken Weitzel" wrote in message news:WxIYc.272777$gE.133471@pd7tw3no...
...
So, last ditch effort. Took a piece of ordinary
paper towel, put the pic on flat desk, and rubbed it
gently but firmly for perhaps 60 seconds. Blew it off,
tried again, and it was gone!!! I could see no
difference, but the scanner sure did.
....

Hmmmm.

I wonder if it was some sort of grease or oil,
for example from finger prints, that only shows
up if the light is shining directly on it. If so, you
might need one of those shiny mirror gizmos
that opticians use with the hole in the center to
focus light on it to see it with your eye.

Maybe try using a CD-ROM as a reflector.
Look through the hole while reflecting a bright
light via the CD on an uncleaned image and
see if the dirt shows up.

If it is oil or grease, I bet there's some solvent
you could use that would clean it up nicely,
dissolving the oil without damaging the print.
I know conservators have solvents that they
wipe on old master paintings to clean them
without damaging the paint. But I don't know
what they use.

If you find out more, please let us know.

Thanks for the report. I'll remember it when
I scan old photos.

Alan