Copying a glossy textured print

<p>I have a 4"x6" print that was done in the 1950s by a professional photographer at a function. It's on glossy black and white and the surface is glossy with a regular "dotty" texture. Maybe this is what they called "stipple" but I'm not sure. My first attempt at copying resulted in a grainy look because of the texture. On a flat bed scanner it's similar. I have a copy stand and macro lens, and I've been using a pair of lamps, one each side, illumination at around 45degrees to the surface. This has worked well with even smooth glossy prints but this one is difficult. I've thought of trying to copy it wet but wetting a print that's valuable to the family might be unwise. (It is in pristine condition, those old photographers knew how to process well).</p>

<p>I have read about polarizing light for copying. I don't have that equipment. Would it help?</p>

<p>Polarizing your lights probably won't help--it sounds like the texture is the issue, and on a print that small it will be prominent. I would only suggest making small prints from this image to minimize the grainy look.</p>

<p>Polarizing light might help, and the equipment is not expensive. You put polarizing gels in front of your lights, and experiment with different orientations to see what provides the best result. (In dealing with specular reflections when photographing objects, you can see the reflections diminish when the orientation is right.) But before you try it, look into different solutions. There are many photo.net threads about dealing with paper texture in copying or scanning:<br>

http://www.photo.net/search/?cx=006577976762569540560%3A1n8vmghdzjw&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&section=all&q=remove+paper+texture&filter=0&sa.x=0&sa.y=0</p>

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<p>I might be off, but I suppose the texture is stressed by the directional nature of your lighting. - Can you give an ultra diffuse mess a go? It shouldn't be too hard to improvize a light tent from lenshood to subject at that size. Maybe 4 lights are needed. </p>

<p>Thank you all for your suggestions. I will give Jochen's suggestion a try first, and contemplate some of the ideas in Hector's post and link.</p>

<p>Scan the print on a flatbed and see what the results are like. If results are unsuitable as is, then the stipple finish could be temporarily "filled" by coating the print with vaseline or a similar transparent gel and pressing it against the scanner glass.</p>

<p>It's not surprising that you're having trouble. Textured surfaces were developed, in part, to make it difficult to copy prints so photographers wouldn't have to worry about customers buying a single print and then making a bunch of copies. Probably less of a problem in the 50s -- they did it then and into the 70s sometimes because people liked the look. But definitely common since scanners came along. The school pictures we get of my kids are always heavily textured.</p>

<p>Ctein describes a technique ( The Online Photographer ) which helps. Basically, you scan the print, rotate 180 degrees,scan again,and combine the images in post.</p>

<p>The optimal method is using polarizing film in front of two lights which are angled at 45 degrees to the print's surface and a polarizing filter on the macro lens. This way you will be able to eliminate any and all reflections.</p>