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Question

What do people maintaining photo archives do

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
April 1, 2019
5 replies
1099 views

I've been using Photoshop for several years, trying to restore my collection of old 35mm colour slides.

They've been infested with mould and silverfish and have been in and near tropical climates, so I'm having a struggle.

I've tried most of the tools in Photoshop, and so far, the spot healing tool seems to be the most useful. I augment what it can and can't do with other tools like the clone stamp and the median filter - that seems to be easier to use and to produce fewer exclamations of "Oh, no. Why did it do that?" than the Dust and Scratches filter.

I've tried several add ons, but these mostly confirm that the elves at Adobe know what they are doing, and I end up returning to the spot removal tool, the clone stamp, and the median filter.

I often think that there must be a better way, and that there must be several people around the world managing film and slide archives. Surely, they don't spend all day removing spots and muttering, "There must be a better way".

Does anyone know someone who works in a film archive removing blemishes from old 35mm slides?

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OutDamnSpotAuthor

Known Participant

It's a bit Narcissistic to reply to my own question, but I can't find a better way to say "thanks" to the several people who helped.

Thanks.

The comment about scanning being the hard part puzzles me.

I can easily scan 40 or more slides in a day.

On a relatively clean slide, I can remove its spots in less than a day, but some grubby slides need nearly two days, and if they are so grubby that it looks like they'll need more than 2 days, I follow the "bin it" advice.

Well, I don't really bin it, I just leave it in its "AsScanned" folder and ignore it.

I've scanned all of my own slides, and about the same number for various friends. I've despotted a few boxes for a few friends, but friendship has its limits, so I've left most of theirs undespotted.

Fixing the colour takes a few minutes for some slides, but a few need up to a day. I think my average is about one slide per hour.

I use an ad hoc mixture of Photoshop with layers and masks, Nik, Viveza, Nik with yet more layers and masks, to repair the colours.

Until I discovered Nik, I repaired a few slides using PPW, by Dan Margulis, and achieved some results approaching miracles, but PPW needs a lot of skill, and I also achieved a lot of disasters.

Meanwhile...

A spotting I will go, a spotting I will go, Hi ho the diddly oh, a spotting I will go.

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

I've just worked out that it is sixteen years since I digitized and restored my dad's slide collection, so I might have used the original Photoshop CS. I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and I was surprised to see that the Healing Brush was already available at that time. All I remember is that I would never want to go through that experience again. It was a total nightmare, and took forever, so I wish you the very best of luck, and I am sure your family will appreciate your efforts.

Norman Sanders

Legend

Many years ago, when drum scanners were the only only game in town, small chromes (6x6 and 35mm), were removed from their mounts, sprayed with a special oil, placed on a carrier sheet and wrapped around the drum in preparation for scanning. The tiny oil globules filled the surface scratches on the chromes and, as the video below confirms, eliminated the dust, scratches and mold that could affect the quality of the scanned image. It also eliminated Newton's Rings, an interference pattern that looked l like moire when the carrier sheet was not in full contact with the film.

At the time, in New York jargon, the technique was referred to as "floating the chromes in oil." I don't know whether commercial scanning firms do that anymore, whether drum scanning firms offer it or what the cost may be. I can tell you from experience that it did a wonderful job of eliminating the dust, mold, fingerprints and scratches that made some scans a headache.

I scouted around and located this Aussie YouTube video that shows the oil technique. Although you would not be a candidate for using this process I want you to rest assured there is "a better way." when compared to reducing imperfections by hand. Economy and availability are another matter. Good luck.

Oil Mounting - YouTube

D Fosse

Community Expert

There is an inherent tradeoff that you can't get around: spot or detail? The software can't know. There isn't an algorithm in the world that can make that decision - it's all just pixels. Only you can make that decision.

I've done my share of 35mm transparency restoration, and IMO the only sane way to deal with it is to identify the really important images. That may be a lot fewer than you initially think. Do whatever it takes! to restore those to pristine condition.

Stuff the rest in a box and forget them.

War Unicorn

Community Expert

I mirror what D said: Go through the images that are keepers and don't worry about the rest. Multiple images of the same composition? (e.g., A group of people sitting down for a portrait.) Keep only one.

For me, the hard part of dealing with slides is scanning the suckers. Another tip (if you haven't scanned them all already or if anyone's thinking of doing the same thing): Get a slide viewer so you can---naturally---preview slides before committing to scanning them.

D Fosse

Community Expert

Yep, scanning is the tedious part. And very problematic too. All flatbed scanners I've used (including Epson V500/700) have lots of chromatic aberration - colored fringing - and it's a nightmare to correct. And you won't get anywhere near the advertised optical resolution.

So again - for very important images you might consider photographing them instead. With modern sensors and a good flat-field macro lens (like e.g. a Micro-Nikkor 60/2.8), you will get a much better result. And a file that is much easier to post-process.

But yes, setting up a decent repro stand and appropriate back lighting can be a bit of work.

Conrad_C

Community Expert

A resource that might be worth looking into is Katrin Eismann's classic Adobe Photoshop Restoration & Retouching, 4th Edition.

That book has been a popular reference for around 20 years at this point, maybe more. The 4th Edition update came out last year.

Ussnorway7605025

Legend

I would start with bridge to sort them into piles i.e, these need spot tools, and those need extra work

then I would goto Lightroom and quickly touch up most with an auto filter... only then would I go back to Bridge - send it to Photoshop for the finishing up

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