Get most info from old postcard

[Jim Elbrecht]

I have an old postcard [1912-20's?] that was made from a print.

The postcard is of a cemetery & I'm trying to read some stones in it.
One is barely readable, but with a loupe it looks like I might be able
to get some more from other stones if I'm lucky.

My scanner is an old Microtek 5900. I'm using Scan Wizard 5.93 in
Paint shop Pro 7.

My instincts were to scan it at 5 or 600% - then try to manipulate it
in PSP. [or ask for help from some photoshop wizard]

But Scanwizard only goes to 200%- so now I wonder if;
1. enlarging the image isn't the best plan
2. its time to look for newer scanning software
3. 200% is the best this old scanner will do

The image that I'm getting now is at-
http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=cemetery2.jpg
The only name I've been able to make out is Walter Winne in the front
right. The stone I'm most interested in is the large stone to
the left of the 5 little ones - but any other last name might help me
pin down the cemetery.

Any thoughts on how to best increase the contrast to try to see some
more names?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[CSM1]

I have an old postcard [1912-20's?] that was made from a print.

The postcard is of a cemetery & I'm trying to read some stones in it.
One is barely readable, but with a loupe it looks like I might be able
to get some more from other stones if I'm lucky.

My scanner is an old Microtek 5900. I'm using Scan Wizard 5.93 in
Paint shop Pro 7.

My instincts were to scan it at 5 or 600% - then try to manipulate it
in PSP. [or ask for help from some photoshop wizard]

But Scanwizard only goes to 200%- so now I wonder if;
1. enlarging the image isn't the best plan
2. its time to look for newer scanning software
3. 200% is the best this old scanner will do

The image that I'm getting now is at-
http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=cemetery2.jpg
The only name I've been able to make out is Walter Winne in the front
right. The stone I'm most interested in is the large stone to
the left of the 5 little ones - but any other last name might help me
pin down the cemetery.

Any thoughts on how to best increase the contrast to try to see some
more names?

Thanks,
Jim

It is very unlikely you will ever be able to read more that one or two names
on the head stones.

But the best chance is to only select a small area of the photograph to scan
at a time, then scan at the maximum resolution of the scanner,

Due to the nature of photographs (prints) the available resolution is only
about 200-300 DPI. Any enlargement you can get will just be a fussy
enlargement of what is in the photo.

Increasing the contrast can be done in the Scanner driver by manipulating
the White and Black points in the driver. You would have to be in an
advanced mode of the scanner driver for that to work.