Reverse of
Photograph 10204-119



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Notes about Altering Photographs

It should always be the case to present the original, unaltered photograph as it really exists as the true obverse "a" side, and likewise the original, unaltered back side as the true reverse "b" side. This ensures the true nature and appearence of the photograph is preserved in an original and unaltered state. If the photograph warrants repair, enhancement, or restoration, this would make for excellent "additional sides" to include along with the original "a" and "b" sides. This is why some photographs have these additional "c" and sometimes "d" sides.

Notes about Photograph Quality

For best preservation, photographs should be scanned at a minimum resolution of 600 dpi (dots-per-inch) for the obverse side, and a minimum of 300 dpi for the reverse side. It is better to capture too much quality and image detail than too little. Tiny photographs can be scanned at 1,200 dpi. Scanners usually have settings that allow you to adjust scanning resolution.

Image compression also plays a factor in image quality. Higher compression means image quality is lower, but the file size commensurately decreases. File formats that are "lossless" have no compression (thus maximum quality), but may consume more memory space than what is really needed. Visual Ancestor uses JPG images with 5% compression (95% quality factor) for the obverse side, and 10% compression (90% quality factor) for the reverse side.

Notes about Shading and Hues

The shading and hues of color of a photograph can vary from when it appears in an album page (usually lighter and dominated by lighter hues) to when it is scanned alone (usually darker and dominated by darker hues). This is due to how a scanner or camera adjusts the overall shading and coloring of the overall image based upon the entire field of light that it captures.

The surface area of album pages, which are usually very light in shading, influences how the photographs appear therein. This is why a photograph in an album page may appear lighter and dominated by lighter hues, while the exact same photograph when viewed alone may appear darker and dominated by darker hues.