This is really a result of the road trip – more of that in other postings! – a lot of slides being scanned by yours truly in two different systems, with two different results. These slides are from ca. 1951-1960 and were taken in Illinois, in Chicago and the rural area where I grew up. For some reason after that the only family pictures we have are school pictures, and they are not really exciting to look at.
The slides were taken with both Kodachrome and Ansochrome. Both have deteriorated, lost color, collected dust and threads. Cleaning them up is not easy, but software – the right software – helps in that regard. Above is a slide I cleaned up and cropped using the Epson V600 flatbed scanner, Lightroom, Photoshop, and On1 Photo Raw. Dust removal with the Epson software was not really great so I spent a lot of time erasing the debris on the slide. You can see the original slide below.
I have no idea what kind of camera my parents used in those days, but I am sure it is a 35mm camera as this is a Kodachrome. This next image is from an Ansochrome slide of yours truly and our dog Siwy (pronounced shee-veh, or as we said, shee-vee). I used SilverFast 8.8 and my PrimeFilm XA Super Edition to scan the slide.
Silverfast has a really good dust and dirt removal in its SE software – you can get this for free with a lot of new scanners. A lot of people think it is hard to use – maybe if you don’t want to play a bit – but I have been really pleased with it. There were still areas after the dust / dirt removal I needed to clean up, such as areas where the slide had deteriorated. Sharpness, too, was difficult to work with. Below is the original scan of the slide so you can see the difference.
The combo of SilverFast and PrimeFilm scanner create a relatively clean scan – I wanted you to see all the dirt! Finally, I did the color upgrade / modification in On1 Photo Raw using a preset I made.
Our family doesn’t have a lot of photos and little knowledge of family history. My mother’s family were immigrants and their family vanished after WW2. We never had much contact with my father’s family for all sorts of reasons. When we go, our branch of the family tree disappears. Editing and recording these slides is for my pleasure and that of my sibs – if they think it is of any interest.
Am I living in the past and not looking to the present and future? Am I getting mawkish and sentimental? It’s hard to tell. History has always fascinated me, so perhaps our little bit of history and that of the world is impetus enough. Of course, editing photos is a bit of fun, too, so why not?
Ink, Yarn & Beer 
Great work on those slides N! You have an amazing amount of patience. I think you’re just wanting a link to the past.
Good job on the clean up! I think photoshop has just brought out a tool do that too, worth looking into. Hope you have a few more to do, the one of you and your sister is just lovely. Love the dresses.
Thanks, Fraggy! Those dresses are our cowgirl outfits! My brother had a cowboy outfit, complete with chaps. It’s pretty cute. And, I do have more of my sister and me and other sibs. I will check out the spot removal in PS – thanks for letting me know!
Thanks, Anne! Truthfully, the scanning business is always fun for me, so not a lot of work. How much crud shows up depends on how much resolution you put into the scan – bigger number means more crud. And you are right about wanting a link to the past – and it is more than that, of course. But more than anything, it is memories and seeing the world from a perspective of time.
I’m so impressed that you can correct old slide images so well. These are precious reminders of your youth, so I think that makes them important. Perhaps at some point your siblings will become interested in your shared history and want copies.
Thanks, Laura Kate. I come from a family of rather stoic people, so showing enthusiasm is like, “Oh, that was fun.” It’s really rather amusing and annoying! The correcting of old slides is really dependent on software. SilverFast has one of the best dust clean up situations I have seen. PS does a good job, too, apparently, but that is a learning curve in some ways for each photo. I do plan on sending a few prints to my sibs just because, and I think they will like having them.