posted on December 4, 2004 03:01:43 PM new
Have you tried shining a bright light from the top of the scanner? I know it worked with a Hold to light postcard.
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"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "...holy sh@#...what a ride!"
posted on December 4, 2004 05:41:06 PM new
Backlight is the answer of course. If you don't have a transparency attachment on your flat bed that lights from the top you can backlight them and photograph with a digital camera. I have an epson scanner that has a light in the lid so you can scan transparent things. I used it to scan tissue peepshow views that are made on the same principle as the tissue stereo.
Before the days of scanners and digital cameras my husband made a wooden box with a frosted glass top and a light inside. It made great slides of tissue cards and views. I am sure you don't want to make a special box if you only have a few to photograph but you could rig up something with a sheet of black cardboard. Cut an opening the size of the card. Place the cardboard on a sheet of glass or plexi with a study support under each corner. Shine a bright light (like a tensor light) up at the underside of the card and photograph with your digital camera. Years ago we had permission to photograph in a museum archive and found some wonderful early color transparencies. We built a little "light table" out of large cans of photographic chemicals and a sheet of glass, borrowed a desk lamp from one of the offices and made beautiful slides that we still use for teaching.
I also suggest that you do a straight scan or digital photo of the front of the card without backlight because with some cards it is the objects that appear in backlight that are not there in when it is lighted from the front that make them really interesting. We had some tissue cards for years before I looked at one with backlight and discovered that the very ordinary view of Paris had a hot air balloon when it was backlighted.
Good luck with your project.
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“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
