I am so glad I watched this tutorial.Excellent and right to the point with great detail on the settings. I have my parents' old photos and they are all different sizes. I have to scan them to fit a small digital frame. They are black and white, sepia, etc. This tutorial has helped me understand what I need to do. I am not a photographer and am inexperienced with manipulating photos. You have helped me immensely! Thank you very much!!
Thank you, Bruce, for this video. You easily and clearly explained how to restore and preserve older and faded Black & White photos about as easily as possible, especially explaining the color maintenance issues and how to make best use of the Histogram. While I know the basics of most of this effort of scanning color and black & white negatives and prints (and slides), I think you explained how to use complicated software about as simply as one could. I use Silverfast 8 though I have your same Epson Scan software on my Epson V750, and I admit to being a bit confused and mystified by all the available options. Thanks again from April 16, 2020, 7 years and 2 months later in a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
Bruce, Finally a systematic method of scanning old faded black and white photos, using the information from the photo provided by the scanner!!! Now I can take my scans to photo editing to improve them. Simple and brilliant explanation. Thank you
Thanks a million, so many folks do not understand what they can and can not change in the settings. Myself included. Now I realize I can change things and how to change them and not wreck the settings on the program. Please if there is anything else you can think of that this program can do, please put up a video on it. You gave me some peace of mind.
I find it useful to click and hold the Show Output button (next to the Tone Curve Viewer, which (like you?) I tend to ignore) - it switches the histogram at the top from input to output with your current adjustment settings, which I find very helpful. Great video, though.
Can I ask you way do you not use the Grayscale bit rather use the 48 bit colour? But thank you for a great vodeo this is the best here which talk about this Epson Scanner software.
When I was new to all this I scanned old black and white shots using grayscale, which I now regret - you lose all those lovely tones and character that old photos naturally have.
I am scanning 100 year old photos. A few of them are really bright and washed out, but the detail is there to the human eye when you look really closely with an eyepiece. To recover this detail as best as possible do I need to scan in 16 bit greyscale? Damn fine video BTW
I would do as Bruce suggests and scan in colour (24 or 48 bit) - that way you preserve the natural character of old photos. Follow the techniques suggested here and you should get good results. You'll learn as you go along and tweak things to make them even better.
This is a very useful tutorial, I didn't think about adjusting the histogram levels for each chanel. Do the histogram level adjustment actually change how the image is scanned or is that change made afterward?
I would guess the scan is always the same, but if you don't make the right adjustments, you could end up losing information you can't get back, such as from clipping at either the black or white end.
For old archival photos 24-bit is overkill, and unless a significantly different colored stain is apparent that might allow more control in later clean-up steps, no one yet has given ample evidence why scanning directly to 8-bit B&W (= to 24-bit color) isn't more than adequate. By all means play with separate levels beforehand, but really the goal should be to maximize stored information in meaningful areas, like shadow details in typically washed out/faded images, so as to have the most to work with in subsequent editing software. If the separate histograms are basically identical, scan in B&W and move on.
Thank you for mentioning detail work on problem areas, that is the next step after the scan. This photo definitely needs that also, but I didn't include that in this tutorial. "...no one yet has given ample evidence why scanning directly to 8-bit B&W (= to 24-bit color) isn't more than adequate." Professionals seem to use at least 16-bit per channel (48-bit color.) However, most scanners are still only 8-bit per channel (24-bit color.) One operation and I can see raggedness in the histogram, so If you have an 8 bit per channel scanner, I recommend scanning grayscale images in color. In this tutorial I'm using an Epson Perfection V750 pro to scan in 48 bit color. Since this tutorial, I don't push the handles in so hard on the ends of the histograms. The Epson scan histogram is so small that I might not see I'm clipping pixel information. So I give it a little breathing room one each end. Afterwards, I use the 48 bit Gimp to do what I want. I can make the histogram window BIG. At least one professional movie film scanning lab that I've researched, scans flat. Meaning that on the scan they make NO changes, and wait till the image is digital to start manipulating the information. I've started doing this myself, but am glad to have 16 bit per channel to start with. For anyone doing a bit of family legacy work, a few hours of research online can really help the result. Here is a very good book on the topic (IMO,) by Katrin Eismann. www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Restoration-Retouching-Voices-Matter/dp/0321701011 (answer edited on Nov 18, 2020)
Just brillian young man. Really helped me as I am a novice with adjusting the scanned photograph. Thank you so very much.
I am so glad I watched this tutorial.Excellent and right to the point with great detail on the settings. I have my parents' old photos and they are all different sizes. I have to scan them to fit a small digital frame. They are black and white, sepia, etc. This tutorial has helped me understand what I need to do. I am not a photographer and am inexperienced with manipulating photos. You have helped me immensely! Thank you very much!!
Wonderful explanation. Thank you so much for posting this tutorial. Love your level-adjustment tips!
Thank you, Bruce, for this video. You easily and clearly explained how to restore and preserve older and faded Black & White photos about as easily as possible, especially explaining the color maintenance issues and how to make best use of the Histogram. While I know the basics of most of this effort of scanning color and black & white negatives and prints (and slides), I think you explained how to use complicated software about as simply as one could. I use Silverfast 8 though I have your same Epson Scan software on my Epson V750, and I admit to being a bit confused and mystified by all the available options. Thanks again from April 16, 2020, 7 years and 2 months later in a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
Bruce, Finally a systematic method of scanning old faded black and white photos, using the information from the photo provided by the scanner!!! Now I can take my scans to photo editing to improve them. Simple and brilliant explanation. Thank you
Thanks a million, so many folks do not understand what they can and can not change in the settings. Myself included. Now I realize I can change things and how to change them and not wreck the settings on the program. Please if there is anything else you can think of that this program can do, please put up a video on it. You gave me some peace of mind.
This is just what I've been looking for. Thanks!
This was really helpful! Thank you so much for making this video. 🙏
I find it useful to click and hold the Show Output button (next to the Tone Curve Viewer, which (like you?) I tend to ignore) - it switches the histogram at the top from input to output with your current adjustment settings, which I find very helpful. Great video, though.
(It allows you to toggle between the two histograms.)
clear and to the point - cheers!
Can I ask you way do you not use the Grayscale bit rather use the 48 bit colour?
But thank you for a great vodeo this is the best here which talk about this Epson Scanner software.
When I was new to all this I scanned old black and white shots using grayscale, which I now regret - you lose all those lovely tones and character that old photos naturally have.
Nice and informative
Well done.
I am scanning 100 year old photos. A few of them are really bright and washed out, but the detail is there to the human eye when you look really closely with an eyepiece. To recover this detail as best as possible do I need to scan in 16 bit greyscale?
Damn fine video BTW
I would do as Bruce suggests and scan in colour (24 or 48 bit) - that way you preserve the natural character of old photos. Follow the techniques suggested here and you should get good results. You'll learn as you go along and tweak things to make them even better.
This is a very useful tutorial, I didn't think about adjusting the histogram levels for each chanel. Do the histogram level adjustment actually change how the image is scanned or is that change made afterward?
I would guess the scan is always the same, but if you don't make the right adjustments, you could end up losing information you can't get back, such as from clipping at either the black or white end.
Where’s the drawing part?
For old archival photos 24-bit is overkill, and unless a significantly different colored stain is apparent that might allow more control in later clean-up steps, no one yet has given ample evidence why scanning directly to 8-bit B&W (= to 24-bit color) isn't more than adequate. By all means play with separate levels beforehand, but really the goal should be to maximize stored information in meaningful areas, like shadow details in typically washed out/faded images, so as to have the most to work with in subsequent editing software. If the separate histograms are basically identical, scan in B&W and move on.
Thank you for mentioning detail work on problem areas, that is the next step after the scan. This photo definitely needs that also, but I didn't include that in this tutorial.
"...no one yet has given ample evidence why scanning directly to 8-bit B&W (= to 24-bit color) isn't more than adequate."
Professionals seem to use at least 16-bit per channel (48-bit color.) However, most scanners are still only 8-bit per channel (24-bit color.) One operation and I can see raggedness in the histogram, so If you have an 8 bit per channel scanner, I recommend scanning grayscale images in color. In this tutorial I'm using an Epson Perfection V750 pro to scan in 48 bit color.
Since this tutorial, I don't push the handles in so hard on the ends of the histograms. The Epson scan histogram is so small that I might not see I'm clipping pixel information. So I give it a little breathing room one each end. Afterwards, I use the 48 bit Gimp to do what I want. I can make the histogram window BIG.
At least one professional movie film scanning lab that I've researched, scans flat. Meaning that on the scan they make NO changes, and wait till the image is digital to start manipulating the information. I've started doing this myself, but am glad to have 16 bit per channel to start with.
For anyone doing a bit of family legacy work, a few hours of research online can really help the result. Here is a very good book on the topic (IMO,) by Katrin Eismann. www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Restoration-Retouching-Voices-Matter/dp/0321701011 (answer edited on Nov 18, 2020)
For photographing the real world 48 bit is essential, but for faded old monochrome prints I think most will be happy with 24.
Thanks a lot very helpful
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