After the glass-plates were carefully soaked, separated, cleaned and rehoused, it was time to find out what was on them. The digitization of fragile glass-plate negatives is one way to provide continued access to source material while minimizing handling.
As you can see from the photos on the left and right, the three glass-plates were separated from the tissue paper. Unfortunately, the paper had bonded with the plates and removed a large portion of the emulsion. The glass-plates were scanned using a dual lens, high resolution, Epson V750 Pro photo scanner. Thank you to the History Museum of Hood River County for allowing us to use their scanner. The Epson V750 is one of the best high-end photo scanners on the market and has a scan resolution of 6400 dpi (dots per inch) or more accurately, ppi (pixels per inch). The nice thing about the dual lens system is that it automatically selects the correct lens based on the resolution. For glass-plate negatives (as well as film negatives, slides or transparencies) Arthur and I have scanned them at 1600 ppi. This is a high resolution, and will generates a large file. Keep in mind that depending on the type and quality of the photo, you will want to adjust the resolution and bpi (bits per inch).
Take a look at the photo on the left. You will probably notice that there are two cards on both sides of the glass-plate. We placed these cards on both sides to slightly elevate the glass-plate from the platen. The reason for this is to avoid interference patterns like Newton's rings. The phenomenon was named after Isaac Newton who first studied them in the 1717. The rings (which look like finger prints) are caused by constructive interference between the light rays reflected from both surfaces. Sometimes they're hard to spot, and sometimes they're quite obvious, but either way the appearance of these rings can diminish the quality of the scan. There are many techniques for eliminating Newton's rings from scans. Arthur and I have been experimenting with glass-plate and film negative scanning for nearly three years. We found that by slightly raising the glass-plate from the platen, we were able to reduce the appearance of the rings.
A big thanks to Arthur Babitz for his time and effort as well as the use of his lab.
If you have any questions on digitization and scanning techniques, send me an email at [email protected]. You can also read the Heritage Bulletins I wrote for the Oregon Heritage Commission on digitization, under the Resources tab, or follow this link.
As you can see from the photos on the left and right, the three glass-plates were separated from the tissue paper. Unfortunately, the paper had bonded with the plates and removed a large portion of the emulsion. The glass-plates were scanned using a dual lens, high resolution, Epson V750 Pro photo scanner. Thank you to the History Museum of Hood River County for allowing us to use their scanner. The Epson V750 is one of the best high-end photo scanners on the market and has a scan resolution of 6400 dpi (dots per inch) or more accurately, ppi (pixels per inch). The nice thing about the dual lens system is that it automatically selects the correct lens based on the resolution. For glass-plate negatives (as well as film negatives, slides or transparencies) Arthur and I have scanned them at 1600 ppi. This is a high resolution, and will generates a large file. Keep in mind that depending on the type and quality of the photo, you will want to adjust the resolution and bpi (bits per inch).
Take a look at the photo on the left. You will probably notice that there are two cards on both sides of the glass-plate. We placed these cards on both sides to slightly elevate the glass-plate from the platen. The reason for this is to avoid interference patterns like Newton's rings. The phenomenon was named after Isaac Newton who first studied them in the 1717. The rings (which look like finger prints) are caused by constructive interference between the light rays reflected from both surfaces. Sometimes they're hard to spot, and sometimes they're quite obvious, but either way the appearance of these rings can diminish the quality of the scan. There are many techniques for eliminating Newton's rings from scans. Arthur and I have been experimenting with glass-plate and film negative scanning for nearly three years. We found that by slightly raising the glass-plate from the platen, we were able to reduce the appearance of the rings.
A big thanks to Arthur Babitz for his time and effort as well as the use of his lab.
If you have any questions on digitization and scanning techniques, send me an email at [email protected]. You can also read the Heritage Bulletins I wrote for the Oregon Heritage Commission on digitization, under the Resources tab, or follow this link.