Photographing a Photo

[Bugsman]

I work for a steel fabrication company and they have about a half dozen photos sized at 16 x 20. They want to put some of those photos on their new web site by taking photos of those photos. They've asked me to try and do that. Would someone give me some advice how to best accomplish that? I figure some black velvet to stick the photos on and then hang that on the wall, but what about lighting, distance from the photo, etc. I figure I will end up in the conference room under florescent lighting. Any help would be appreciated.

[Jim Jones]

Tell us more. Color or B&W photos? What kind of camera do you expect to use? Do you have a tripod? Do you have a digital photo editor? Built-in or camera mounted flash is useless for this. There are many ways to use existing light We can advise you better when we know more about what you have to work with.

[macmaam]

My first question would be, do they own the copyright to those photos?

[dvdowns]

It is difficult , I wonder if it wouldn't be better to scan them .?

[Bugsman]

The photos are color. I have a Canon 20D and I do own a tripod. However, I don't know if they own the copyright or not - I'll find that out this morning. Most of the photos are aerials.

[Crystal Imaging]

I've done this and it was tuff. What I did, and someone may have better ideas, was I took a piece of thin glass to hold it flat. Stood it in a chair outside in the shade with no sun rays hitting the picture. Then set up my tripod and camera using no flash, Got my distance for the crop I needed and shot away. I also used my remote shutter cable and mirror lock up so I could get the best image out of this way of doing this. As another poster said it would be much better to have them scanned.


Allen

[Rokcet Scientist]

Originally Posted by Bugsman

I work for a steel fabrication company and they have about a half dozen photos sized at 16 x 20.* They want to put some of those photos on their new web site by taking photos of those photos.* They've asked me to try and do that.* *Would someone give me some advice* how to best accomplish that?* I figure some black velvet to stick the photos on and then hang that on the wall, but what about lighting, distance from the photo, etc.* I figure I will end up in the conference room under florescent lighting.* Any help would be appreciated.

Scanning would be the best way by far! But you'd obviously need a bloody big scanner, that only specialists have. If you know a construction or engineering company, ask them. They may have scanners that size.

Second best would be to 'repro' it: camera pointing straight down in a "repro/copy stand", distance to photos about 1 meter/40" or more, your photos horizontal, flat on their backs, without glass covering them if possible (= 2 more reflective surfaces!), 2 or 4 flashguns (1 or 2 on either side). I would bracket, with aperture priority f5.6 and f8.
Again, a construction or engineering company might have a set up like that.

Third best, imo, would be to try to emulate a repro/copy stand with a tripod.
Haven't got (enough) flash? Try a window that faces north as your light source, and a big white reflector on the opposite side of your subject, just outside the Field-of-View.

Shoot RAW! You'll later be able to adjust the white balance if neccessary.
Since those repros will probably need PP editing, the highest resolution possible is advisable.

Repro/copy stand:

[Bugsman]

Some of the advice I can accomplish, some I can't. Wish me luck - I'm going to give it a try sometime today. I've relayed all the information and if they don't turn out good enough, they'll go from there.

Thanks again.

[Blinky]

You need two lights with 12" to 20" reflectors that will have the same output, they can be hot lights or strobes. Mount the picture on a bulletin board and hold it flat with tack flanges like in the example below. Don't use a glass overlay because the reflections will kill the contrast. Arrange the lights to either side so they are the same distance from the picture and hit it at 45°... then adjust them so the center of the beams cross and strike the farthest edges of the picture and then feather them slighly further so the hot spot is off the picture. That will make the light about as even as you can make it unless you add diffusers. Don't put the lights really close, 5' or 6' is fine, 2' will give you problems with falloff. You can do all this with the bulletin board mounted on a wall and the camera on a tripod.

You have to get your camera square to the picture or you'll get a trapezoid instead of a rectangle. The easy way to do it is to use a piece of mirror. Before you mount a picture, mount the mirror (no frame) right in where the center of the picture will be... be precise, you can mark the outline of the pictures on the bulletin board to make it easy to get each one in the right place. Place your camera on a tripod and position it at the distance which wil fill the frame with the picture (leave a border but only a tiny one). Now the fun part... through trial and error move the camera and tripod until you can focus your lens in the very center of the mirror in the center of your frame. It's gonna suck because you have to do lots of little tiny movements of the tripod and the compenstae with the camera angle which is gonna make you have move the tripod again to re-center the image of your lens. If you do it a lot you get good at it but the first few times are a pain.
Anyway, when your lens is focused in the center of your mirror in the center of the camera frame, you're square. DON'T MOVE ANYTHING AFTER THAT... or you'll have to do it again. (the example image looks trapezoidal by the way but it's square on; the paper was actually cut that way)

Last, if the images are color, put a grey card in the picture right next to the image for every shot so you have a reference to set WB. I would shoot RAW so WB can be tweaked later.

If reflections from texture in the photo paper is a problem (it will look like inexplicably low contrast), you will need to polarize the light and use a lens polarizer to filter it out. You can get Roscoe polarizing film for your lights from a theatrical lighting supply but it's expensive.



Good luck,
Chip