Reproducing light pencil on kraft paper...

[Denis Beauregard]

I would like to reproduce with a digital camera some old
handwritten notes.

They were made in the 1920s and 1930s with a light pencil
on standard paper that is more or less brown like kraft paper.

Any idea ?

I am using a Canon A60, 2 MPx, and can setup the speed,
etc. I can use or not the flash. I can use PSP/Paintshop
Pro to later improve the images (but the version 7 can't
do batch processing except to change the format). I can
use Linux-based softwares too.

Would some filter on the lights improve the reading ?


Denis

[Dave Hinz]

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 16:37:03 -0400, Denis Beauregard <[email protected]> wrote:

I would like to reproduce with a digital camera some old
handwritten notes.

They were made in the 1920s and 1930s with a light pencil
on standard paper that is more or less brown like kraft paper.

Any idea ? I am using a Canon A60, 2 MPx, and can setup the speed,
etc. I can use or not the flash.

I'd start with photoshop on a color image, flash and non-flash. Try
getting a glare off of the pencil if you can. Play with your color
curves to see if you can punch up the black (bring down the brown).

I can use Linux-based softwares too.

Once you figure out what color transforms you like based on photoshop,
see if Imagemagick (http://www.imagemagick.org) has scriptable options
for color changes, I believe they do.

Would some filter on the lights improve the reading ?

I'd shoot it raw and process digitally, but that might be another
option. UV filter or lights? IR film? I think the easiest would be
to see if Photoshop can punch it up to visible.

Dave Hinz

[Charlie]

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 16:37:03 -0400, Denis Beauregard
<[email protected]> wrote:

I would like to reproduce with a digital camera some old
handwritten notes.

They were made in the 1920s and 1930s with a light pencil
on standard paper that is more or less brown like kraft paper.

Any idea ?

I am using a Canon A60, 2 MPx, and can setup the speed,
etc. I can use or not the flash. I can use PSP/Paintshop
Pro to later improve the images (but the version 7 can't
do batch processing except to change the format). I can
use Linux-based softwares too.

Would some filter on the lights improve the reading ?


Denis

The standard filtering trick for reproducing black & white photographs
is to photograph through a filter of the same color as the "stain" you
want to remove.... so this would say you need to use a brown filter
over your lens, then expose "normally". This would force the brown to
be recorded as white (on black & white film), hopefully leaving the
pencil marks still legible.

I would think that you could use a "filter" with a scanner in the same
manner, scanning in grayscale, for example, then adjusting so that the
background is nearly white. I don't think that filters on the lights
and photographing with a camera would be as effective, but it's sure
worth trying if it's easy to set up.