How can I label vintage photos with the date and names of those pictured?

[jenniferb43270990]

I bought an Epson FF-680W scanner to copy hundreds of old family photos. it creates (I was told by Epson IT) JPEGs.

I need to be able to label each photo with the date, and names of those pictured. Epson's software doesn't allow such a thing.

Can I open (edit?) Epson-scanned photos with Photoshop Elements, and add a border, and text to each image?

Or do I need to return the fancy new scanner, and resort to placing photos on glass one at a time, with a handwritten label describing who's in the picture?

[MichelBParis]

If you have so many scanned files, you might consider using the Photoshop Elements organizer.

This  management tool lets you store information for each file, including captions (for instance who is in the picture), estimated date taken and more, especially all kinds of keywords for easy and fast retrieval of  files based on multiple criteria (type of scene, location, people...)

Once you have entered those pieces of data in your catalog, you can use the organizer or the editor to print your files. There is an option to add filename, date taken and caption under your image when you print.

You can also use the editor to choose how to write the above data over your image itself (not in the metadata section). That's totally manual but you have all freedom for the fonts, sizes, colors of your text and where you want to display them. That's done by adding text layers to your scanned files.

[hatstead]

jenniferb43270990  wrote

I need to be able to label each photo with the date, and names of those pictured. Epson's software doesn't allow such a thing.

Can I open (edit?) Epson-scanned photos with Photoshop Elements, and add a border, and text to each image?

Or do I need to return the fancy new scanner, and resort to placing photos on glass one at a time, with a handwritten label describing who's in the picture?

In addition to MichelBParis's suggestions, consider the following:

1. Keep the scanner
2. Once you have scanned the pictures and saved them, you can open each file in PSE Editor. They will probably benefit from enhancement, e.g. with levels, brightness/contrast, sharpening, cloning over defects, etc.. You can add a blank extension to the picture on which to type the information.  (Image>Resize>Canvas Size.)  So, if you have a 5x7 picture, you can extend the canvas to 5x9, for example. This will avoid having to type directly on the picture.
3. There are several ways to add a border. The easiest way is to add a stroke. If you are not familiar with the procedure, don't hesitate to ask.

[jenniferb43270990]

Thanks, MichaelBParis and halstead.

I'll download the PSE software and give it a try this weekend. If I can't figure out how to do what you suggested, I'll reach out again.

Appreciate the advice!

[Greg_S.]

. . .  and in Elements 2019, there is a new guided edit to add text and a border overlay.  You can read about it here.