Historical Photograph Scanning

Currently we are working on a collection of photograph albums dating back to 1939 which hold historical images from World War II. It is important to handle these rare albums with a ‘white glove approach’, to ensure oils from our hands are not transferred across to the media. All images are gently brushed and cleaned before being converted to high quality TIFF images at 600dpi.

Working with many consumer and corporate clients, our photograph scanning services are extensively used. From family albums to historical TIFF preservation of photographic images, we can support all clients.

We use the most advanced software from Silverfast, a leading archive scanning suite which offers the very highest in scanning. The software is designed to work precisely with our dedicated scanners. The output is an accurate true image representation.

If we can support you with your archival or consumer collection, please do not hesitate to contact us. Cheryl@oxfordduplicationcentre.com or call 01865 457000.

PHOTO SCANNING PROCESS

Photos are first cleaned with compressed air. This removes any extra dust from the photos. All images are scanned numerically by folder marking (ie: FarmHouse_001.jpg).

When scanning we only use the highest grade flat-bed photo scanners. We absolutely do not scan your memories using document scanners as many companies will do. Document scanners are the super-cheap method of scanning photos, but the quality is lacking in many ways.

After all the scanning is finished, we go through each image one-by-one and make sure that it is oriented properly and not flipped (words appearing mirrored).

Once all the photos have been scanned and inspected, they will be transferred to our USB3 memory sticks, unless otherwise specified by the customer.

MANUAL COLOR CORRECTION SERVICE VS. IMAGE RESTORATION SERVICE

If the photo has a red cast to it, in many cases we can neutralise that colour and bring back the original colours. We will check for the whitest pixel in the important viewable area of the image and reset that to the 100% white value and do the same for black.

Our Image Restoration Service will digitally repair photos. If your photos have, folds, scratches, colour blots, fungus or any number of imperfections, our image scanning technicians can support you. Even if the image has a piece missing it may be possible to reproduce this missing section based on another photo or other data inside the same photo. It is amazing what can be done with Adobe Photoshop, some extra plug-ins, know-how and experience.

BEWARE OF CHEAP SCANNING – WHY WE DON’T USE DOCUMENT SCANNERS TO SCAN PHOTOS

The quick answer is because scanning photos on document scanners is not to our high-quality standards. Document scanners have only recently been used for photo scanning purposes. Document scanners were originally intended to help businesses save time, money, and file cabinet space by quickly scanning and cataloguing large amounts of documents.

COMPANIES THAT STILL USE DOCUMENT SCANNERS

If you manage to find a cheap photo scanning company that will do it, then they are either using a document scanner or they are sending your precious memories out of the country.

Make sure to ask them what type of scanners they are using!