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Round Top Bill
Round Top Bill
Participating Frequently
November 16, 2023
Question

Best way to save scanned photos front and back

  • November 16, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 2441 views

I have scanned a number of family photos that have relevant information written on the back.  I have currently scanned the front and back into two separate files.  I'd like to keep both images together in one photo so they stay together and not get lost.  I've used photoshop 2023 and loaded them as a stack then labeled each layer as front and back.  Is there a better way to accomplish this with a large number of photos?

 

My goal is to preserve photos and information for future generations.

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    2 replies

    Stephen Marsh
    Community Expert
    Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 17, 2023

    @Round Top Bill 

     

    This is a Photoshop scripting task, I have written scripts for others in your situation. I will try to dig up the posts for you. Either combining vertically or horizontally.

     

    It will depend on the file naming to automatically match the pairs together.

     

    Are the front and back scans in one folder, or separated into two different folders?

     

    Can you provide examples of the file names for front and back? Is the naming convention/pattern consistent?

     

    EDIT:

     

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/script-or-automate-two-photos-into-one-collage/m-p/13054361#M656157

     

    Round Top Bill
    Round Top BillAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    November 18, 2023

    @Stephen Marsh 

     

    In this instance, I just used the scanner default naming convention and each photo is named sequentially.  For example:

     

    Front:  2023-02-08-09-06-001.tiff

    Back:  2023-02-08-09-06-002.tiff

     

    Both are in the same folder right now.  I have called this my to process folder.  Once I have made any changes, edit or added meta data, etc, then I move them to each individuals folder and use the naming convention of "year-month-day-name-other info.jpg".  I try to be consistent, but that doesn't always work out. 

     

    I am interested in the process of combining these, but am also interested in hearing if this a good way to preserve the information and still be able to work with the files.  Eventually, I'm exploring ways to share these photos with family members and need to make it as easy as possible.

     

    I looked at the post you added and that is quite the script.  I haven't fully absorbed it yet, but it looks like you have put a lot of effort into it.  Nice job.

      

     

    Life is too short not to enjoy every day being alive.W. G. Hagler
    Stephen Marsh
    Community Expert
    Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 18, 2023

    @Round Top Bill 

     

    A single input folder and your current sequential "paired" naming convention should work for this automation.

     

    If you do wish to combine both scans into a single image, then it's just a matter of knowing whether to combine vertically or horizontally.

     

    If the writing on the back of the photo was always in the top then you may not wish to stack the full height of the back underneath, it could just be 1/3 or 1/2 of the back image for example.

     

    I'm assuming that each photo is the same pixel width/height, or close enough that any minor cropping of the back image to match the front image would not be an issue. If each scan is slightly different in size, then you may wish to normalise them to a standard pixel width/height as part of the automation (either slightly cropping or padding out each image to a consistent size).

     

    If you can provide 2 or 3 sets of front and back images for testing, that would be helpful. You can do this via a private message if you don't wish to publicly share the images via the forum.

     

    I personally believe that saving as a single combined image is better for future users of the photos, but it's also possible to automate the combining and saving as a 2-page Photoshop PDF.

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    gary_scCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 16, 2023

    Hi, @Round Top Bill, excellent question. I'm afraid I do not have THE answer, but I can let you know what I've done. 

     

    First, I made as many adjustments as I could in the scanner so that I had to do as little as possible in Photoshop (that can make a big difference in the final image). Then, IF the amount of information was very little, in Photoshop, I extended the bottom of the image just enough to add that written data. In the attached photo, this is my grandfather and my dad (my dad was born in 1912). BTW, it's important to do this LAST after any adjustments. Otherwise, PS will include the white as part of the image when making global adjustments.

    If there was a lot of text, especially if the text is in a foreign language, I'd scan that as well and include that. However, I'm using Lightroom Classic, not Bridge, for this because of the better keyword capability. This latter bit is important to me because if the photo is of one person, no issue, but if it's a group photo, then it is very easy to have "Aunt Maude," easily found by herself or in a birthday party photo. 

     

    About the only thing I can think of to provide a thought for you is to place the two scans into a 2-page PDF. They would still show up in Bridge by the first page (the photo), and the 2nd page (the text) is right there as well.

     

    Not sure if I solved your problem or gave you more headaches, but I really appreciate what you're doing. I've got about 2000 photos of our family from around 1900 to the present. If you have any scanning questions, just ask.

     

     

      Round Top Bill
      Round Top BillAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      November 17, 2023

      Thank you for the reply and it does provide food for thought.  That is a great photo of your grandfather and father.  I've been trying to capture all the images and data I can to preserve it for others.   I'm also using Lightroom but the cloud version to work with my photos.

       

      I've just experimented with loading the photo in Photoshop with the front and back scans on different layers.  My plan is to copy the image to a separate layer to do any needed editing to later save as a JPG or other format.  I have so many images already that I can't edit them all.  This method seemed like a good way to preserve the original data so I could go back and apply different edits later if the need arose.  I'm new to this but am learning new techniques every day.   I wanted to pose this question to the group because I didn't want to reinvent the wheel.

       

      Thanks for your help!

      Life is too short not to enjoy every day being alive.W. G. Hagler
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