Using a copy stand to capture old photos for restoring

Sometimes it's simply not possible to use a scanner to capture your old photos for the purposes of restoring them.

There are quite a number of reasons for this. The photos may be too brittle to press flat, may be printed on a textured surface that causes artifacts in the scanned image, or your photos may be in and album or frame from which you do not wish to (or are unable to) remove them. If you are in any of these situations then using a camera to capture the photo for restoring is the only option.

Getting the best possible digital original before beginning the restoration process should always be your top priority. You will get a much better end result if you give yourself as little to fix in Photoshop as possible. For this reason the use of a copy stand is always preferable to hand-holding your camera.

The benefits of a good copy stand are:

• The camera is heald steady to eliminate camera shake


• The camera can be positioned accurately and parallel to the photo to be copied


• Focusing is easier


• Lighting from the side removes the effect of textured paper


• Capturing photos larger than your scanner is made possible

And if you don't wish to splash out and buy one, you could always have a go at building your own copy stand.

-Mark.