How To Digitize Prints in Photo Albums

Capturing The Story Behind Each Photo

By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you will transform your cherished photo albums into a digital treasure trove, ensuring that your family memories remain vibrant and accessible for generations to come. Remember, capturing the story behind each photo adds invaluable context to your genealogical journey. Happy digitizing! And may your family's history overflow with laughter, joyful tears, and a few delightful surprises along the way!

Much of this section aligns closely with the preceding one, (“How to Digitize Classic and Vintage Prints”). Picture yourself as an intrepid archivist, wielding a modern mirrorless digital camera- your trusty companion in this epic undertaking. This journey may take longer than anticipated, but don't despair! The speed, joy, and superior quality your camera delivers make it a worthwhile investment. Seize this opportunity to become the superhero, swooping in to preserve precious memories. Consider this guide your compass through the labyrinth of time, ensuring the highest quality captures of these family artefacts. Let the archival adventure commence, for you are the guardian of memories, the hero of genealogy!

The Album Capture Process

Since the process of capturing albums is mostly about digitizing prints, I will not repeat the details covered in the previous section. However, there are significant differences, the act of capturing images from within vintage albums presents its own unique set of considerations and rewards. Unlike loose prints, these photographs are often historically significant for their content and context within the album itself-the arrangement, the annotations, and even the album's physical characteristics can contribute to the overall narrative. Therefore, digitizing prints in situ requires a delicate approach that balances the need for high-quality capture with the paramount importance of preserving the album's integrity. This section will delve into the techniques and best practices for carefully extracting these visual stories from their aged pages, ensuring that the images and the albums themselves are handled with the utmost respect. We will explore methods for gentle removal (when necessary), careful in-album capture, and considerations for documenting the album's layout and any accompanying text. Ultimately, we aim to create a digital archive that honors individual photographs and their collective histories.

Custom Camera Settings for Scanning Album Prints

• Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

• White Balance: Custom - 5600 (matched to lights)

• Aperture: f5.6 to f8 (or your lens's sharpest setting)

• Focus: Manual Focus, Peaking On

• Screen Histogram: On

• Self-Timer: On - 2 Seconds

• Stabilizer: OFF (to avoid on-stand distortion)

• Quality: RAW

• ISO: 100 - or the camera's lowest (not auto ISO)

The Importance of Initially Capturing All Album pages

Hark, esteemed archivist! Before the meticulous work of individual image capture commences, embrace the sagacity of documenting the album in its entirety. Begin with a reverent capture of the front cover, a visual portal to the memories held within. Then, gently unfold the inside cover, diligently recording any annotations, inscriptions, or ephemera- these often hold contextual clues and personal narratives that may prove invaluable for your keywords and descriptions later. Proceed systematically through each subsequent page, capturing the album's complete physical state. This will form an indisputable visual guide, ensuring the album's physical integrity is preserved with the same dedication you apply to its digital counterpart. This fundamental step transforms the digitalization process from mere image extraction to a true act of archival preservation. Later, you will photograph the album label and include its image as the first file in your computer folder for this album; only place the physical label on the rear, inside album cover when the capture process is finished, to avoid confusion later.

Identifying Front and Rear Pages For Computer Folder Structure

To clearly identify each album page within your album and digital archive, use the abbreviations FFP for front-facing pages and RFP for rear-facing pages; you can use these identifiers in your archive folder structure. After the front-facing pages, turn the album over to capture the rear-facing pages; my suggested subfolder names are listed below.

Only the folder structure on your computer will use the following identifiers. Replace KFA with your own prefix.

For the Front Facing Pages:

• KFA-AG01-ALB01-FFP01-IMG01.TIFF

• KFA-AG01-ALB01-FFP01-IMG02.TIFF

• ...and so forth.

For the rear-facing pages:

• KFA-AG01-ALB01-RFP01-IMG01.TIFF

• KFA-AG01-ALB01-RFP01-IMG02.TIFF

• ...and so forth.

Implement the Following Computer Sub-folder Structure

The following example is displayed using my prefix as an example, as discussed at the beginning of this tutorial; please replace the first three letters in each line with your prefix.

KFA-Klein Family Archive

KFA-AG01-Albums

KFA-AG01-ALB01-FFP

KFA-AG01-ALB01-FFP-01

KFA-AG01-ALB01-FFP-01-MedieLabel

KFA-AG01-ALB01-FFP-01-Img01

KFA-AG01-ALB01-FFP-01-Img02

and so on.

KFA-AG01-ALB01-RFP

KFA-AG01-ALB01-RFP-01

KFA-AG01-ALB01-RFP-01-Img01

KFA-AG01-ALB01-RFP-01-Img02

This granular structure meticulously separates front-facing pages (FFP) and rear-facing pages (RFP), further dividing them by page number before containing the individual image files. This method demands more attention during the image capture phase, but the enhanced organization and traceability are invaluable in the long term. Carefully consider whether the initial investment of extra effort during capture outweighs the benefits of streamlined image retrieval and album reassembly for your archival needs.

Keep a Spreadsheet for Archive Documentation

I keep a spreadsheet that documents the details of my archive structure, including all the above. I can refer to it to remind me of the specific requirements and to inform other potential archive users. I strongly recommend this practice to you.

Three options for digitizing albums

Option 1 - Prints Remain on Page - Capture Each Print Individually

For this 'in situ' digitization method, the photographic prints remain securely on the album page, and you'll capture each print individually on the copy stand baseboard. This approach necessitates carefully manipulating the album on the baseboard to position each print squarely beneath the camera. Consequently, adjustments to the camera's height, angle, and focus will be frequent to ensure optimal alignment and sharpness for every shot. While this method can indeed be more time-consuming than other approaches, the precision it allows often yields the highest-quality results by minimizing distortion and maximizing detail capture. You may also need to hold some prints flat using clean, clear acrylic sheets.

To begin, carefully place the entire open album on the baseboard of the copy stand. Position the album horizontally, typically with the spine aligned parallel to the baseboard's edge. Gently raise the front cover and lean it against the copy stand column to help keep it out of the way and prevent shadows. The goal is to achieve even illumination across the entire album page, ideally using two consistent, diffused light sources positioned at roughly 45-degree angles on the left and right sides to minimize glare and shadows. If the album pages are protected by acetate overlays, take extra care to gently fold them forward and secure them out of the frame, perhaps using small weights or clips, ensuring they don't cast shadows or distort the underlying prints. Before each capture, always double-check that the album page lies as flat and level as possible on the baseboard.

For each print, meticulously realign the album so the photograph is centered directly under the camera lens. Get the camera as close as possible to the print while still achieving sharp focus to maximize the image resolution and minimize the need for excessive cropping later. Capture all the images on the front-facing pages first to avoid unnecessary handling. Once all the prints on those pages are captured, carefully flip the album so that the back cover rests against the copy stand column and proceed to capture the prints on the newly presented pages. While demanding patience and frequent adjustments, it is often the quickest route to achieving high-quality digital versions of album-mounted prints, preserving their original context while ensuring sharp and well-composed individual images. The only disadvantage of this solution is that you can't record any captions on the back of the prints.

Additional Tips for Efficiency:

• Use small placeholders (e.g., sticky notes) to track completed sections, avoiding duplication or missing pages.

• Ensure even lighting by reviewing a test shot before beginning the capture process to eliminate shadows or glare.

• Use a handheld light meter to ensure even lighting across the pages (as explained in Digitizing Photographic Prints).

• Once aligned with the first print, lock the camera's focus to minimize adjustments.

• Capture a sequence to streamline postprocessing and minimize organizational effort later.

• You may require transparent acrylic sheets to hold some prints down.

• You may need small A5 foamboard sheets to help with levelling album pages.

Option 2 - Remove Prints from The Pages - Capture Each Print Individually

Removing photographic prints from a vintage album for individual digitization has the advantage of achieving the highest possible image quality. By handling each print separately, you position it optimally under your camera, ensuring it fills the sensor and captures the maximum level of detail and resolution. Furthermore, this method provides an invaluable opportunity to carefully document handwritten captions, dates, or notes that may reside on the reverse of each image- information that often adds crucial context and historical significance. Capturing each print individually in a close-up shot eliminates potential distortion or uneven lighting when photographing an entire album page.

This approach comes with crucial considerations and potential challenges. Removing aged prints, particularly those adhered with brittle or degraded adhesives to delicate album pages, carries an inherent risk of causing damage such as tears, creases, or the loss of fragile backing paper. Moreover, meticulously returning each print to its original position within the album can become time-consuming and potentially frustrating, especially with albums containing numerous photographs or intricate layouts. To mitigate the risk of misplacement during this process, it is advisable to implement a robust system for tracking each print's original location. Lightly marking a consecutive number on the back of each print with a soft graphite pencil (ensuring not to press too hard) is a sensible precaution. Taking a preliminary photograph of the entire album (as mentioned previously) before removing any prints can also serve as a vital visual reference. When any notes or captions are on the reverse of a print, make it a standard practice to photograph these immediately after capturing the front of the image. This preserves the information and reinforces the benefit of capturing the entire context.

This method of individual print capture proves particularly advantageous in situations where the album itself is ancient, significantly damaged, or slated for replacement. In such cases, the priority shifts to preserving the individual photographs and their associated annotations. When it comes to file naming, your suggested convention of using the same base filename for the front and appending a consistent suffix, such as '-bk' (e.g., 'Image01.jpg' for the front and 'Image01-bk.jpg' for the rear), is an excellent strategy.

Additional Tips for Efficiency:

• Remove prints one at a time and complete the process before proceeding to the next page.

• Keep separate piles after capture, FFP and RFP.

• Mark each print on the rear with a light graphite pencil mark, e.g., FFP-01, FFP-02, etc.

• Ensure a robust system for tracking each print's original location in the album.

• This is the time my recommendation above, to initially capture the entire album, is perhaps mandatory.

Option 3 - Capturing Entire Album Pages with Prints Left Intact

To digitize prints without removing them from the album, position the entire album on the baseboard of your copy stand. Capture each entire page individually, ensuring the whole page fits within the image while maintaining the closest possible proximity for better detail. This process is like using a flatbed scanner, as you'll need to crop each individual print during post-editing.

Step-by-Step Process:

• Photograph each consecutive front-facing page of the album, taking care to frame the page consistently.

• Once all front pages are captured, close the album, flip it over, and begin photographing the rear-facing pages in sequence.

• Use a photo editing application to crop each image individually, save them as new files, and batch rename for organized storage.

Pros and Cons of This Method

Advantages

• You avoid the risk of damaging images or the album by leaving prints intact.

• The process is straightforward and minimally invasive to the album's structure.

Disadvantages:

• Capturing the entire page from further away means each individual print occupies only a small portion of the camera sensor, resulting in less detail.

• Cropping and renaming images in post-editing requires additional time and effort.

Additional Tips for Efficiency:

• Perform a test shot to verify lighting, alignment, and focus before capturing the entire page.

• Capture pages using ‘High-Definition Mode’

• Use a hand-held light meter to check the evenness of light across the print.

• Ensure consistent positioning of the album and camera angle for uniform captures across all pages.

• Save cropped images in a separate folder to avoid accidental overwriting during batch renaming.

• Double-check for glare or shadows, especially when working with acetate overlays, and adjust the lighting setup accordingly.

• Use small A5 foamboard sheets for levelling album pages.

As the situation changes, you must repeat this process for the album's other side. To explain this process, you will start with the front album cover up against the column. You will capture the front-facing pages first. When you have captured all the front-facing images, turn the album over and repeat the process for all the rear-facing pages. The rear cover will be against the copy-stand column, then start capturing.

Holding Prints Flat with Transparent Acrylic Sheets

As fully discussed in the previous section -whether capturing prints in situ or individually, you may encounter photographs within albums that stubbornly refuse to lie flat, exhibiting lifting at the edges or a pronounced curl. A practical solution to this common issue is the careful application of clean, transparent sheets of either glass or, more commonly due to its lighter weight and reduced risk of scratching delicate prints, high-quality acrylic. This was fully discussed in ‘How to Digitize Classic and Vintage Prints'.

Next: Post-Editing Classic & Vintage Images