Newspaper archiving

I am interested to hear from anyone with experience in photo shooting newspaper pages for archival purposes. I am interested in shooting and not scanning. Photos need to be taken of two pages at a time in one shot and must come out in good quality to do OCR afterwards.

 

I am specifically interested to know the set-up parameters that worked well for the camera and lighting.

 

Thank you

Photos need to be taken of two pages at a time in one shot and must come out in good quality to do OCR afterwards.

 

Google "Camera Copy Work" e.g., Setting up a copy camera by Dan Murano | danmurano.com

 

You'll need to prepare a copy stand of the right dimensions. It's crucial to get the lighting even across the pages (this is difficult, and one reason why scanning rather than "shooting" is easier if you can handle the size). Usually lighting will need to be at 45 degrees to avoid reflections into the camera (e.g., link).

 

You'll also need lens(es) with a flat field. Enlarger lenses often are used.

 

Ordinary general utility lenses will have more vignetting, and other flaws that are of little consequence when you're shooting landscapes but become real problem for copy work.

 

It is going to be hard to get images that are optimal for OCR from such a large subject, copied in this way.

 

Lots of luck:)

Thank you for answering.

 

If I don't succeed at taking an image in one shot that is also optimal for OCR, do you think taking it in four shots and putting them together afterwards may produce a more optimal image?

 

Thanks again

Tip: Back the newspaper with some black material. Card or suchlike. Otherwise the print-through from the other side of the paper may confuse the OCR.

 

A white backing, such as is stupidly supplied in most scanner lids, just emphasises the print-through and makes it worse.

Thank you

Depending on the camera/lens combination you might find it useful to post the pages vertically on a tackboard, where you can stretch the paper out a bit. You can set up a good tripod and carefully measure and mark the correct positions on the floor, so as to assure consistent distance and perpendicular to center position. This also allows a bit more distance and the use of a somewhat longer focal length lens to flatten the image, if needed. I have not tried to image documents specifically for OCR. I have, however, documented numerous large-format documents (paper architectural drawings) in this manner so that I could transmit them electronically. The advantages to this approach is, again, the opportunity for a bit longer focal length, which will diminish distortion and vignetting issues, as well as ease of take-down and set-up over time. It will be less precise than a rigidly constructed copy frame, but can make up for that in other ways. If the newspaper you are shooting is old/brittle/archival, then this approach will not work, and you'll need to go with a horizontal copy stand.

 

I've found the best lenses for this work to be high quality macro lenses, such as my Micro Nikkor 55/2.8 AI, mounted on the highest resolution sensor available, manually focused, and at f:8-f:11.

In lieu of tacks on a tackboard, you could also use magnets on a metal backer, such s a dry-erase marker board. The recommendation to back the pages with black is valid and will make a significant difference.

Many thanks, I shall bear those points in mind.

For copying of binary (black, white, but not gray) objects, it is usual to use a high contrast film.

 

There used to be a film specifically for this, called (amazingly) High Contrast Copy.

 

However, with a high contrast film, it is even more important to get the exposure right.

 

A newspaper might reflect 30% in the white area, and 1% in the dark area, and you want

the film to accurately record those two, as black and clear (on the negative).

 

The high contrast will make later OCR much easier.

Thank you glen_h

In addition to the processes and suggestions for image capture, it is strongly recommended that you set up a batch processing system in Photoshop or similar to enhance the contrast prior to the OCR process.