Lin wrote on Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:45:40 -0700:

> It was an old Polaroid Instant picture (you remember those --
> you "shook" them as they developed). Mom scanned that on her
> little home scanner and sent it to me last night. I've asked
> if she wouldn't mind bringing it with her when I see her in a couple
> of weeks so Ican get a better scan. Whether the sepia
> tone is just the age of the Polaroid or mom using a little
> "artistic license" I don't know.

A rather OT interjection! I've recently scanned some color family
photographs (50 or so years old) for my kids. The color balance is often
much changed by selective fading and there is browning and general
fading but I've been quite successful in doing restoration with a
program as simple as Photoshop Elements.

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

James Silverton wrote:

> A rather OT interjection! I've recently scanned some color family
> photographs (50 or so years old) for my kids. The color balance is often
> much changed by selective fading and there is browning and general
> fading but I've been quite successful in doing restoration with a
> program as simple as Photoshop Elements.

Keeping it a bit more OT: I have the full Adobe Creative Suite and as a
designer live, eat and breathe Photoshop. Polaroids are always a bit
problematic, even on a decent scanner, so color correction in an
industry standard app is a must.

When I was working, I always made sure to have the best scanner at my
finger tips. I did save transparencies, slides and negatives for the
pre-press folks even though I did have the transparency adapter for the
scanner. The last high-end scanner was an Epson that I REALLY liked. So,
fast forward to my little home studio and I put a $59 (on sale at
Target) Epson All-in-One Printer on the desk next to me. Imagine my
delight when I launched the scanning software and it was identical to
what I had used before -- and it scans at the same high resolutions! The
only problem is I'm limited to a letter size scan and the software
didn't come with the Photoshop TWAIN plug-in. Might be one out there, I
just haven't checked. So many of the photos I manipulate these days are
digital so I don't use the the scanner all that much.

Now, back to mushrooms. Has anyone seen this?

Mushrooms, Russia and History
http://www.newalexandria.org/archive/

I've downloaded the PDFs ... the color illustrations are beautiful.

--Lin