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.
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