Practical Methods for remake old photos

From: http://www.cnr.cn/nx/gyxl/syzs/200811/t20081130_505164147.html

At present, all regions are engaged in the 30-year success exhibition of reform and opening up, and many old photos need to be copied. Scanning old photos with a scanner is of course the best, but sometimes the size of old photos is too large or cannot be scanned for other reasons. This requires the traditional method of remake. 1. Professional specifications remake Before the remake, you must first prepare the old photos by size, audio and video classification, and prepare a tripod, frame, camera, macro lens, near-camera lap, contrast mirror, clip, tape, etc. Fix the old photo on the wall or place it on the flip frame. The surface of the old photo must be parallel to the display on the back of the camera. The lens is perpendicular to the center of the old photo, use a macro lens, a close shot, and a mirror to make the old photo as full as possible. Keep the old photo flat. If the photo edge is tilted, use a clip or tape to fix it. The focal length should be close to the standard focal length. The light should be gentle and even. If you take a photo in the photo room, it is best to use four lamps for a large photo to make the light out of the four corners. The illumination direction should be 45 degrees angle with the lens, and the light intensity of each side is the same. Do not use any light to prevent reflection on the opposite side of the photo. For example, if you take a photo outside, you should place it in the shadow of a house or a big tree. The opposite of the old photo should be a dark environment. Sometimes you can put a dark cloth to eliminate the reflection of the photo. To keep the camera stable, You must fix the camera on the frame or tripod during the remake. During the remake, the host top flash cannot be used, so that the strong light will be directly reflected into the lens to form a white light group. Because the photo shadows are different, an exposure value is determined through the test during the remake, and then the Manual exposure is used for batch remake. II. On-site emergency remake Sometimes it is necessary to take a temporary remake of a photo in a country or factory or mine. If there are no conditions for such a remake, you must use a simple method to quickly hold a camera. Place the old photos on a bright table or bed without direct sunlight in the room. The key is to make the photos smooth. If necessary, place a ruler or wooden bar at the four corners to flatten the photos. To avoid false shooting, the camera shutter should be no less than 1/60 seconds, and the sensitivity can be increased if the light is not enough. Use a two-handed camera to move the camera half on the top of the old photo to observe the shutter, push and pull the focal length or change the distance. Try to make the old photo full of pictures. Sometimes, when a photo is attached to a wall on the scene, it is impossible to avoid the reflection of the photo. One available method is to find the smallest angle of reflection from the side, so that the old photo becomes a trapezoid on the remake image, then adjust it to a regular rectangle through the free transformation function of PS. There are usually not a few on-site emergency reoccurs. You can simply use the evaluation and lighting method + the surrounding exposure method to take a few more shots. After you go home, you can choose the best one on your computer.

Source: light and shadows school editor: Xu Dawei