Need help with old photo albums

[Ron Hunter]

Today I found some old photo albums and I'm interested in scanning in many photos from the albums. The problem is each photo is practically glued to the album pages, and I'm afraid I'll damage a photo when I peel it off. (No glue was used mind you, but over time the photos have gotten stuck.)

Is there a good way to non-destructively free these photos?

[Kent Frost]

Ouch. I'm not sure of any specific method or product you can use. I scanned photos for 3 different families, and I found that the photos that were stuck in their holder (frame, album, scrapbook, etc) were usually too easy to damage trying to get them out, and that goes triple for photos in glass frames. Once those are stuck, you're kinda SOL on scanning.

[AllieB]

In the past I used somtines a very thin nylon fishline which I took ubder high tension between my fingers very, very slow under the photograph itself.

Usually the photos turn loose from the page without any damage.

But important is the thin line, how thinner the best, the tension and the patience to do it slowly.

[Kent Frost]

I think I may have misunderstood what you meant by "stuck to the album pages". Are the backs of the photos stuck? Or the image-side? Some of the albums I dealt with, the image was stuck to the clear plastic. If it's the self-adhesive albums where the back of the image is stuck, I did similar to what AllieB is suggesting, only I used a credit card to very gently scrape the photo off the adhesive. But you win some, you lose some. Just be mindful of the extra stubborn ones; chances are you won't unstick it.

[Dave McElderry]

Do you need to preserve only the photo, or is the album itself of value? You could always just cut the photo out along with the album page that it's stuck to, then later you could put the photos into a new album. It may seem a bit unusual, but it does no damage to the photos that way.

[Helen]

I had a similar problem and I left the photos on the page and put the whole album on the scanner. I then just selected each photo one at a time to scan. It was a bit tricky at times but I did manage to scan the whole album.

[Bob]

I'm with Kent. Old photographs can be very brittle and are easily damaged. I don't even try to unstick them anymore. I'll scan them on the album page or make a copy photo using my DSLR.

Most photo albums can be opened to add or remove pages. I'll take the page out and work one page at a time. It's likely the page will be larger than the scanner. If the photos are small, you can often simply position the page over the scanner with the lid removed and make a scan of the individual photos. Large photos may need to be stitched together, like a panorama, from overlapping scans. I've had good results from Photoshop's Photomerge. Lately, I've been using my DSLR to copy these rather than stitch them from scans. I have a macro lens that let's me get close enough to make a full frame copy. That's also worked out well for me. If you want to try that, be sure the page is flat and evenly lit from two sides to minimize any texture in the photo paper and prevent falloff from uneven lighting.

You didn't say, but it sounds like those photos may be in a so called "magnetic" photo album. Those are the ones with sticky strips on the pages and a sheet of clear plastic to cover the page. Those are bad. Not only does the sticky glue bond more over time, but the acid in the glue can destroy your photos.

If you want to remove the photos from "magnetic" album pages and remount them in another album, make scans or copies of the photos first as a backup in case the photos are damaged in the removal. Don't try to forcibly lift the photo from the page, this is almost certain to tear the photo or crack the emulsion leaving ugly eggshell cracks. I've had good luck using an adhesive remover called "Un-Du". This is a clear solvent that won't stain the page or damage photos and evaporates quickly. Gently lift the edge of the photo on the magnetic album page with a thin plastic spatula and let the solvent do the work. If you don't want to use solvent, you can try gently warming the photo with a hair dryer. Careful though, it's easy to heat it too much and damage the photo -- sometimes it helps to take a piece of dental floss or other thin sturdy line and work it under the photo much like you would use a string to cut through a block of cheese. Personally, I think the risk of damage is too high.

[sidd finch]

I think a DSLR and some good lighting would do the trick. Something like below:



Sidd

[Ron Hunter]

Many thanks to everyone for the super helpful replies! Kent, the images are stuck to a "magnetic" album as Bob described. The image side has the clear plastic "protector" over it, and the back of each image is basically stuck to the album page.

These albums are old, and frankly, not very high quality, so I don't think I can remove and reinsert a page. And there are too many photos for me to try the dental floss/thin wire approach, although that seems like a great solution for a small number of photos. It sounds like the DSLR with proper lighting may be my best bet.

Sidd, do you have that Quadrapod setup? I can gerry-rig something but if that rig isn't too expensive, maybe that would be better?

[Bob]

Those are expensive. All that's really necessary is that you can square up the camera with the page to be photographed. It doesn't have to be vertical. A simple home made book stand or table top easel would do. That would let you mount the camera on a tripod and square it up pretty well with the page. You could probably even hand hold the camera and eyeball it if you have enough light to stop down the lens for depth of field and use a fast enough shutter speed to avoid motion blur.

Can your camera focus close enough?

[Kent Frost]

Okay, so I'm willing to bet that the pages they're stuck to have the signature yellow-stained lines of adhesive behind the plastic (which weren't yellow when the albums were new). I did find that those, although probably more stubborn with some pics than with others, did have a tendency to let go of the photos, albeit in a bit of a crackly way. I suggest going ahead and trying to remove the photos, but know when to surrender if you sense it about to tear.