Small Business Saturday Brentwood

We are a small business, in a couple of days it will be Saturday, we are based in Brentwood, Essex; so what is happening at the weekend? Well it's Small Business Saturday.

What is Small Business Saturday? It's an initiative to get shoppers to think of using their local suppliers rather than the bigger national names, the obvious suppliers who support their efforts with massive advertising campaigns. American Express have been supporting the campaign with full page newspaper adverts and TV coverage too. Their printed advert talks about the butcher, the baker and the vintage dress maker. Well we're none of those although there are several in Brentwood along with the cluster of TOWIE shops and beauty parlours.

As a buyer we try to think local, for obvious reasons, but it's hard to sustain a truly local buying programme. This week we've bought technology devices (mainly USB hard drives and a USB hub) which we've got from Maplins in the High Street. OK, maybe not what the campaign had in mind but it highlights a difficulty of the campaign in that we aren't left with many truly local suppliers, certainly in retail, here in Brentwood. Sure we use the local post office but we've also engaged a local book-keeper and a local handyman for a bit of site maintenance. The Small Business Saturday has certainly helped us to "think local".

What can we offer you? Well if you decide to use us for photo scanning (assuming you're in Brentwood, Shenfield, Ongar, Billericay, Hutton, Kelvedon Hatch, Pilgrims Hatch or anywhere within striking distance) we'll collect and return your photos free. And more - if you place an order on Saturday we'll give you a 20% discount.

What if you live outside the Brentwood area? If you mail your photos to arrive here on Saturday, or if you post your parcel on Saturday, then we will return your photos free. Yes, free postage for Saturday's orders. And more - for orders of over 1,000 photos we'll also give you a 20% discount. That's it - photo scanning and Small Business Saturday in Brentwood.

Christmas Gifts via Apple Mac computers, iPad and iPhone

Just got this link from Apple, how to use standard software to create great photo based products for Christmas gifts. Shows what can be done, some help in the "how-to" field.

All with that lovely Apple look and feel.

What the f?

The name Scott Kelby is massive in Photoshop and photography circles so my ears pricked up when his name was mentioned last week on an Apple Mac podcast. Scott was on a photographers panel at a conference in NewYork speculating about the future of cameras and photography. Senior industry figures predicted the usual in digital photography - more pixels, greater sensitivity, better lenses. Kelby's take is very different and two points he made stick in my mind.

First, why can't we do away with the f-stop? As you know this is the mechanism by which the amount of light going into the camera body is adjusted. Get it right and the image pops, too much or too little light and the picture is ruined. Serious snappers shoot in camera RAW, a file format that tolerates greater exposure latitude but still you need to be there or thereabouts to get the best result.

Just imagine if the captured image could be adjusted, to display with just the right amount of light for your purpose. A quick image scan by some clever software would give you a near optimal image which you could then fine tune. We already have a type of camera that allows you to focus after making the image, surely the same could be applied to exposure data to get a brilliant image,

Second, why can't we do away with screw in accessories? When I heard this point I thought immediately pictured items such as coloured filters. My mind when back to my own early days in black & white photography and buying yellow, green and orange glass filters which could be used to improve elements of an image such as clouds or skin tones. They were pretty expensive too and a reasonable set would be a chunk to carry around in your camera bag. Today I can quickly convert from colour to B&W in my image editing program (I normally use Aperture) then apply any filter effect at that point - all in the comfort of home.

But what else falls into the screw in category for digital imaging? How about the tripod? Another expensive purchase from my early days albeit one which immediately improved my images by the simple expedient of holding the camera rock solid. However I noticed a new Pentax DSLR which employs clever technology to stabilise images. I think Scott's right, this will creep into a wider range of DSLRs, pocket cameras and even mobile phones.

File Size Saga

One of the most frequently asked questions from phone calls relates to the relationship between file size and quality. People seem to think that the quality of a photo scan is determined by the size of the resulting file. Bigger file, better quality.

To re-hash what I've said before the key factor in picture scan quality is the dpi at which the original is scanned, then the cleverness or otherwise of the program which compresses the resulting image. So I was surprised when one of our clients took me to task - we had scanned a large number of 35mm slides, all at 4,000 dpi into jpg files. Why, he asked, did the file sizes vary? After a little thought and file comparison the answer related to the slide mounts.

First, jpg files are compressed. Clever maths enables the program to remove some data points, for example in uniformly solid black areas. If one image has a lot of solid black, while another is more varied, jpg compression will give you a smaller file. In theory that goes some way to answer the question but in practice the file size variation isn't that great.

Second, as I found after some digging, look at the amount of space the slide mount creates. Yes the maximum image size on a 35mm negative or slide doesn't vary but even within the same type of film the bit in the middle varies in size. By a significant amount. It was noticeable, and maybe understandable, how much difference there was between different slide mount manufacturers but I was surprised to find variation between different Kodachrome slide mounts.

Order! Order!

I've never been a paperwork fan so when we launched our photo scanning service I just asked people to supply their key details on whatever paper came to hand. All we really need is your return address, pretty much everything else we can work out ourselves.

Not everyone thinks that way and we've had consistent calls asking how clients can find an order form on the site. So we have now added an order form page, if you like forms you can just print that page, fill in the details, and mail it in with your photos, slides or negatives.

Kodak - Another RIP

I read yesterday that as part of their restructuring programme Kodak have stopped production of film strip plastic. Sadly 60 people have been laid off. So what?

Well, the plastic strip in question is the vital physical layer onto which chemical is spread to create slide or negative film for traditional analogue cameras. As Kodak gave up film and slide sales a while back I assume this output went to other companies and emerged on the market under another suppliers name. Where they'll get their supplied from (if anywhere) isn't explained. It seems likely to me that other companies are pulling out of the analogue media market combined with the inevitable decline in demand.

So perhaps, apart from slide, negative and photo scanning companies, who is handling physical film material these days?

Photo Wallpaper

We're often asked how big can prints be made from our photo scanning service. Usually its for clients who want to make a photo book or a canvas print, or on relatively rare occaissions a poster. Today I saw an interesting advert for a service being promoted by Tetenal and Shiraz Software - photo wallpaper. Yes, truly massive enlargements neatly printed on 24 inch wide strips of paper, nicely butting together with no need to fiddle about with an overlap.

So, dig out that photo of Rover, the kids or that lovely sunset, send it to us for scanning and you could soon be looking at it on your wall.

Personalised iPhone Covers

So, you have an iPhone, it's either black or white - just like all the others, so you can make it unique(ish) to you by clipping on a smart cover.

How about a truly unique cover? One of the clients from our CD ripping service pointed us in the direction of a service from Photobox that applies a digital image to an iPhone case. If you Google "personalised iphone covers" you'll see a collection of suppliers; and of course we can scan those photos for you.

Slideshows from Scanned & Digital Photos

We offer a service of creating a slideshow from the photos we scan. As a photo scanning service we want to add other services and slideshows from scanned photos is one.

However we can also create a slideshow from a mix of photos we scan and those already in a digital format.

All you need do is send in the digital images (on CD, DVD or USB stick) along with the photo prints. We'll scan the prints, slot in your digital images, then create the slideshow.

What colour is monochrome?

Visiting the Ansel Adams exhibition on Wednesday set me thinking. One thought, given the brilliance of his images, is why we bother with colour. His photos eclipse mine by a long way even though me best shots comprise a palette of thousands of colours and his are just, well, just variations in one tone. But what colour is his tone?

I noticed in an video clip of him making a photo he talks to his assistant (he operated a huge old fashioned plate camera, you'd need help lugging that around) about his Zone System exposure guide and placing black at certain values. So I think at the back of his mind he would say his images are in tones of black through to white. Except when you look at some and they have either no soot black and / or no snow whites. Beyond that, well, they don't look completely black rather than tones of gold or a mellow hue. Yes, some are obviously black - white, all are monotones, but some seem based on a tone other than simply 8 bit greyscale.

So that's what I've been thinking about as yesterday I scanned a batch of monotone prints. As a photo scanning service we want to get the best results and for a while I've believed the advice I was given when being trained to operate our first film scanner - that if the image isn't a colour negative or slide, it's black and white. The next step is to calibrate the scanner to capture all that it sees as digital values between total black and total white. Now this does add "pop" to an old image, and many clearly are b&w, but equally many have a tone, an element of blue, or gold, that suggests they may not have been intended to be variations of black.

Scanning these as b&w forces them down an avenue that may never have been intended. Scanning as colour captures the tones and gives a tech savvy client the option to render those as b&w should they wish. I'm more inclined to think we should scan all photos as colour even if they are obviously monotones.

Ansel Adams & Photo Scanning

Yesterday I took some time out and tripped over to Greenwich to see the exhibition of Ansel Adams photo prints. Brilliant, just brilliant.

Adams came in just after the beginning or modern photography and pretty much defined the style from which vast amount of modern snappery is derived. No Adams and I guess we'd all be trying to replicate Constable and Gainsborough. The prints are fantastic (apart from one or two I thought rather run of the mill for an exhibition) and a great way to spend two or three hours.

One of the highlights was a rolling film show covering his life and times, including an interview with the great man in his later years. He mentions he has come across a digital photo scanner and is impressed by the possibilities such a device would open up for his stock of negatives. I don't know if he ever invested in a scanner but that comment brought a smile to my face, I might lob it in the direction of those of my acquaintance who think photography belongs only in the analogue realm.

Another smile moment was the mention of Adams starting his photographic career with a Kodak Box Brownie. Yet again the conjunction of Kodak and image making; not printers or document scanners, no Kodak = photography. Earlier in the day I'd been to the funeral procession for Margaret Thatcher and seen a mass of people snapping away with the cameras on their smartphones. Each one a prime opportunity for Kodak.

Brother's at Kodak

Over the last five or six years we've become very close to Kodak as they enabled us to take photo scanning into a new dimension. Their Kodak s1220 was the foundation of our bulk photo scanning service. Over the years we've had the privilege of helping them by testing new scanners as they became available.

Of course most of us became familiar with Kodak as kids, because Kodak own imaging. Our family has owned Kodak cameras and the majority of our photos and slides were taken on Kodak material. I felt immensely sorry when Kodak ran into trouble, not half as much trouble as I felt they'd gather when their CEO decided to reinvent Kodak as a printer company. Lately they've been in a financial harbour, waiting for a combination of patent sell-offs and restructuring to allow them to join the market once more.

But what about our friends in the Kodak imaging business? I'm sure they hear rumours but I've no idea who will take them under their wing, except today there's been an announcement that Brother of Japan seem to be making a bid for the document scanning arm of Kodak (which might I'm guessing include photo scanning).

So let's be clear about this, a successful printer company is offering to buy the scanning division of a company with a proud heritage in photo systems, to fund it turning itself into (yet another) printer company. And the CEO of Kodak hasn't drawn the obvious conclusion?

Photo Scanning and Software

It's tempting to think of photo scanning as being the same as digital photography, after all you end up with a jpg file of a person, an event or a scene. Just like you do with your digital camera or phone.

Except it's not. First, you've got to think about the controls of the scanner being similar to those of your digital camera and I'm afraid scanners aren't great when it comes to exposure, colour balance etc. Second, even if you get a faithful scan of that photo, the original may have been badly exposed or composed in the first place, leaving you with post scanning work to do.

Hence the need for some decent software to accompany the scanning process. My first mention then is for decent scanner software. As a photo scanning service it's worth our while to invest on that - we use Silverfast for our Epsons and an honourable mention must go to Kodak's brilliant scanner code particularly in its ability to automatically restore faded colours.

Most of the post scanning image adjustment work I do, including to my own photos, is done on Mac computers using Apple's Aperture program. I think it's great and it does all I need of it. However I am concerned that Apple seem to be neglecting this part of their empire (maybe they're all worrying about iPhone 6) so I have to accept the case for using Adobe's Lightroom product grows stronger by the day.

Scanning Photos and Exposure

Over the years we have worked with many people taking their historic images and moving those into the digital era. Pretty much all of those have taken up digital cameras for their current work. Lately we've seen a few photographers who have taken up traditional photography having secured a grounding in the digital method. So we have received photo scanning orders for negatives and slides taken in the last days and weeks, some on almost antique 35mm or medium format cameras.

It's been a very different experience. Mostly it's gone pretty well but for two clients negative scanning and slide scanning has thrown up issues in their technique. In essence they are questions over exposure. I've found myself scratching my head trying to remember what I used to do to get a reasonable image. One problematic negative prompted a memory of me, in student days, standing one winter morning by the side of the river in Lancaster, taking shots of the sun rising over the town. A keen photographer cycled past and with a cheery wave shouted "Don't forget to allow for the sun!"

Sage words, but allow what? More light? Less light? How much either way? We have a large format negative sent in taken in similar circumstances. A broad expanse of beach with a brilliant texture, against a sun low in the sky. So we scanned it as it was shot. No adjustment in the scanner, just matching the scanner range to what was on the original. Immediately you could see rather than a smooth tapering of values at the far right of the histogram there was a truncated effect. The original was over exposed. To cut a long story short the photographer was disappointed, so we did further scans and I think we now have an image which better captures what he wanted.

The loop of getting what the client wanted has raised a couple of important points. First, if a client sends and over or under exposed image the scan will be as accurately as we can, reflect that. We can't tell whether that was the effect the photographer wanted or not. If we're told otherwise we can do something but our standard approach is to scan what is on the original as faithfully as possible.

Second, with any camera to get an optimal result you need to know how the system (lens, camera, film or digital file) works together to create an image. The two key variables are shutter speed and aperture. In a modern camera that can safely be left on auto and for most images you'll never feel let down. But if you're trying to capture a challenging scene an adjustment to a setting will give you a much better result.

Photo Scanning and Grand Central Station

Scanning prints - easy, scanning negatives and scanning slides it's a problem. Simply, which way round does the source material go?

Does it make a difference? Technically no but clients will obviously be disappointed if text is inverted or clocks have the wrong numbers. If the scan is wrong programs such as Aperture or Photoshop have simple tools to flip the image the right way up. Oh, and it's further complicated for us because or slide scanning and negative scanning hardware (Nikon and Epson) have different ideas about which way "up" slides and negatives should go.

Time takes its toll, I think the older film is the harder it is to tell which side is the emulsion side, that being the key to which way is "up". So I was amused to watch a video on the New York Times website which covered Grand Central Station and a few lesser know facts. The ceiling is painted with the stars and their constellations. If you've ever been to Grand Central you'll appreciate what a task that must have been. Well an astronomer provided the basic star chart from which the painters worked, but he made an assumption about which way up they'd hold his original. He or they got it wrong, so the stars are on the ceiling with a view you'd get if you were standing far above the universe looking down.

I sympathise with their problem, it's an easy mistake to make.

Jessops - Vouchers

Just seen the sad news that Jessops are going into administration. Let's hope they can be rescued, although it seems inevitable that some stores will close.

I noticed that while the stores are still trading they're not accepting gift vouchers. I'm sure those who are running the chain now are acting within the law but I do feel sorry for anyone sitting on one of these, probably as a Christmas gift. What can be done?

If I were running a competitor I'd offer to cash these in against sales of new equipment - but I'd knock 50% off face value. In effect this would involve selling photo hardware at cost price, buying huge amounts of goodwill along the way.

Sadly we don't sell any hardware, we just provide services. But it did set me thinking ..... What can we do?

OK, if you have an unused Jessops voucher we'll accept it at 50% face value against our photo scanning service. Just send it in with your photos and we'll credit that against our normal rates. This offer will remain valid until the end of February.