Locomotive photographs

[daveinstoke]

Back in 1961 my Dad photographed a lot of Loco's on the E.R & M.R. The pictures were taken with an old Box Brownie, what is the best way to reproduce them & get a good picture to up load on the net etc. York & Doncaster are well represented in the pics plus the information when & where the Trains were going etc. My photographic knowlage & reproduction is zero so any help would be great.
Dave.

[richard]

I don't know anything about the Box Brownie, but if you have the negatives then it is probably worth scanning directly from the negatives. A decent scanner will do this, and I think even most consumer scanners can (I believe mine can and it was an 'old' consumer model when I bought it in about 2000).

Then you may need to touch up with some decent image processing software. I have an old version of Picture Publisher (no longer sold) - I'm sure modern software is much better - especially at photograph processing.

Geoff Byman is our resident photography expert, so we'll wait for him to reply...


Richard

[richard]

I asked Geoff off-forum, and he adds:

Yes the absolute best way to scan is from the negs. A full tonal range is possible that will print well, where as if you scan from a print the full tonal range is not available. A print is second generation, so it goes without saying that from the ORIGINAL neg is the way.

A GOOD scanner is what is needed - the cheaper end don't do the job properly - having said that, a good scanner can be bought for around £100 nowadays - when I started in digital they were around £3.5K !!!

A good high res scan - at least 2500dpi from medium format - 6cm x 6cm or similar - which if they are old I would think that they would be before 35mm. If 35mm then 4000 would be better. Scan at an optical scan of this resolution, NOT an interpolated one. And don't over sharpen. Any correction to the final scan should be carried out in a good photo editing software - Photoshop is the best.

[talltim]

I would just add to that, scan them at high res for your records, printing and to send to people, but lower the res for the internet!

Tim

[md644]

Funnily enough, I've just been trying to do something similar with some of my Dad's Box Brownie(?) negatives from the 1950s. I have been "playing" with a HP Scanjet 7400 flatbed scanner at 2400ppi and getting reasonable results.

I have attached one to this message, (it's not a railway subject) and I've compressed it for the web (hopefully by enough for this site). This more or less "as scanned" with no real improvements attempted yet, the negative is not in the best of condition but on the original you can read the advertisements quite easily.

Richard as I said it's not a railway subject - but could be considered a "railway destination" - Scarborough - so feel free to delete if you consider it inappropriate.

[Green Arrow]

Ooooh...buses! Worst form of transport in history!

[md644]

Oops, sorry....Have I committed some kind of "blasphemy"(!)

Do I get banned for having a weakness for, erm, "road transport" as well?

[daveinstoke]

I dont have the negatives, they were long gone. The pictures are however in very good condition being in a book for all these years. The pictures showing loco's around York are very good plus the ones of Stoke shed 5D.
Dave

[hyperion]

Sorry to but in but I am intrigued by your advice to scan from negatives, Richard. I have hundreds of photos, not all railway admittedly and those that are don't seem to be the gems which you have Dave, much more modern unfortunately. But some have negatives, some prints only. So do you mind enlarging on the scanning process - I scan them in - and then, pardon my ignorance, how are they going to appear and what more needs to be done to get a decent picture on the computer ?

Hyperion .

[hyperion]

Oh, I just realised I got onto a three year old topic ! Thought I knew what was going on her by now ! If you can give some assistance on this I would be obliged - thanks

[Malcolm]

Sorry to but in but I am intrigued by your advice to scan from negatives, Richard. I have hundreds of photos, not all railway admittedly and those that are don't seem to be the gems which you have Dave, much more modern unfortunately. But some have negatives, some prints only. So do you mind enlarging on the scanning process - I scan them in - and then, pardon my ignorance, how are they going to appear and what more needs to be done to get a decent picture on the computer ?

Hyperion .

To scan from a negative you really need Adobe Photoshop on your computer. Place the negative onto the scanner (checking you have it the right way up) and:
1). Go to 'File' on the toolbar and move the cursor down to 'import'
2). Select the scanner and import the negative image.
3). Go to 'Image' on the toolbar and move the cursor down to 'Adjust'
4). From 'Adjust' select 'invert' (or Ctrl + I) and click.
5). You should now have a perfect black and white (or colour) print which you can save as a jpeg image (or whatever you like).
You can also use 'Image' on the toolbar (and 'adjust') to alter the brightness, contrast, image size, hue, and all sorts of cool stuff to get the image you want.

Malcolm

[hyperion]

Thanks Malcolm, I have got Photoshop but only use it for getting rid of lamps and things growing out of locos, and for bringing distant subjects - from my pre-burst cameras - closer - cropping they call it, don't they ? Much of it I see as cheating . However thanks for your tips, I will give it a go !

Meet my Anty Anny on your 'Women on the Railway' topic !