Sometimes photographs have important information written on their backs such as who the image is of, and when and where it was taken. Keeping track of which backs-of-an-image front match can be maddening if you have hundreds or thousands of archival images. Using the method described in a previous post, you can scan multiple backs at once and have them automatically separated and then use the method described in this post to combine the fronts and backs automatically in the same image side-by-side, saving you a lot of time and hassle!
I found a GIMP script online that combined and scaled multiple images. In archiving, scaling is a “four-lettered word.” I modified the script to keep the original scale and to have the options to automatically save the resulting files.
First you need to install the script. Open Gimp, and go to “Edit–> Preferences–> Folders–> Scripts.” This will show you the directory to download the following scripts to : Adams Combine.scm.
Load two images (the front and the back of a particular photograph) in GIMP. Then, select “Filters–>Archiving–>Adams Combine Images” from the top menu bar. A new window will pop up. Select which image you want on which side. You can select to automatically save the images with the settings below and to automatically close the resulting image, or you can keep the image opened for editing.
Simply go to “Filters–>Archiving–>Adams Combine.” A new window will pop up allowing you to select which image you want on the left, and on the right. You can either save the resulting combined image automatically, or you can leave it opened for editing and manual saving later. The default file type is TIFF, but you can change this if you want to reduce quality and file size. Feel free to change the default file name to match your archiving scheme. If you are saving more than one image, make sure to change the file name. The script will overwrite files with the same name without asking you about it so always enter a unique file name.
Once you click “OK” the script will work its magic. The resulting image will consist of the front and back of the two images you opened. Once this new file is saved, you can delete the originals If you want to save space.
Recap:
- Open both the back and the front of a particular picture in GIMP, and run ‘Adams Combine’ script to combine the two images to a single image.
- Feel free to delete the ‘extra’ images if you want.
Author : Will Rudd (IP: 68.228.23.52 , ip68-228-23-52.pn.at.cox.net)
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Comment:
I’m interested in learning how to scan fronts and backs of analog photo prints and creating composite matches of fronts with the corresponding back. Can you please share more info on how you did that? I’m a self taught pc novice about to scan my entire family’s old photos into digital format for preservation and want to get the best quality I can.
I will use an Epson V600 scanner. What scan settings should I use for the backs? How do I link the front to the back?
Thank you for any info you can share.
It has been a while since I worked with archiving but I did develop a process that worked for me to some extent. I assume you found my series of blog posts about archiving from that time.
There really is no simple way to do it as far as I can tell. That’s why I wrote the plugins for Gimp as noted in those posts. Here are all my articles on that. They are in reverse order so read the articles starting with the bottom one first.
https://sheekgeek.org/topic/archiving
There are videos showing how to use the plugins, but it does require a little advanced computer knowledge. My suggestion is to do the following:
1. Make sure your scanner is installed properly. You will just have to test it by scanning something. The problem is that many scanners don’t come with an application that is for scanning. If this is the car for you, then you should try to use some other app that will allow you to scan. Microsoft publisher is an option, but it is expensive. I suggest searching google for “open source image scanner” application. Here is an example I found but I warn you that I’ve never used it myself so I don’t know how good it might be. http://www.irfanview.com
2. If you read all of my photo archiving posts, you can get the gist of my plugins. I put many photos on the scanner at once and scan the fronts of the photos. Then i flipped each pic over and scanned the backs. Then I used one of my two plugins for Gimp to separate all the different photos, then another plugin to align the fronts and backs.
To use my plugins, first install the image editing program Gimp for windows. http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/gimp-win/GIMP%20%2B%20GTK%2B%20%28stable%20release%29/GIMP%202.8.6/gimp-2.8.6-setup.exe?r=http%3A%2F%2Fsourceforge.net%2Fprojects%2Fgimp-win%2F&ts=1408425581&use_mirror=hivelocity
3. download the two plugin files here and install the plugins I wrote and used as described on my blog pages.
https://code.google.com/p/gimp-archiving-tools/downloads/list
Once you download the files, follow the instructions on third page to find out what folder to put them into. The video on this page can help guide you through the process.
https://sheekgeek.org/2013/adamsheekgeek/installing-archiving-software-scripts-and-plugins
It is important to read the directions carefully so as not to miss any steps. I typically try to read a how-to article twice before trying to follow any instructions. Sometimes I end up reading each step out loud to myself to make sure I’m not missing anything. It must have taken me 4 or 5 times to get the installations of the plugins right in Gimp the first time I tried.
4. One you have the plugins installed, you can now follow my videos for a step by step on how to use the plugins. Scan your photos now. I give digested filetypes and resolution (dots pet inch or DPI) suggestions in my artickes.
You want to line up your photos on the scanner and scan the fronts, then flip them over (But keep them in the same position) and scan the backs to end up with the kinds of result I have in the start of the video here. https://sheekgeek.org/2013/adamsheekgeek/archiving-family-photos-quickly-and-easily-the-correct-way
5.use my plugin in Gimp to separate each photo. Do this for the fronts and the backs of each photo. It might be easiest to save the original scan of the backs of the photos in a different folder than the front. When you run my splitting script, it will automatically name each separated photo with a unique identifier. If you have the fronts in a different folder from the backs then the numbers in the filenames should match up.
6. In a new Window in Gimp, you want to now combine your separated fronts and backs. Just follow the step by step in the article and video here and you should be finished https://sheekgeek.org/2013/adamsheekgeek/matching-up-fronts-and-backs-of-scanned-archival-images
Like I said, I haven’t found an “easy” way to do it with a lot of pictures but these plugins help. I admit I still haven’t gone through and combined all my pictures fronts and backs. It just takes a lot of time and no one in my family offered to help our even seemed to appreciate the amount of work it is.
Anyway, that’s all the help I can really offer. I hope you get it working and find it useful! Best of luck to you!