Photo editing software: who wins?

Copy stand digitization requires the use of some form of photo editing software. There are tons of photo editing software available, so choosing the best software really depends on your needs. I use two photography software suites for digitization.

The first photo editing software I use is Capture One. I use Capture One to take my "scans" and export them as TIFFs. For an additional cost, Capture One offers their special Cultural Heritage software which specializes in the digitization of archival materials. However, I use the base Capture One program.

Capture One screenshot

There are a few features in the base Capture One program that are especially helpful for digitization. The feature I want to touch on here is the option to tether your camera to your computer so you can remotely take photos without having to be near your camera. Now, if you're familiar with photography, you probably know that there are accessories that allow you do the same thing with a remote or button (often referred to as remote release), however, I believe it is better to use a computer because I can also adjust all of my camera settings from Capture One as well (the left column in my screenshot). When you're digitizing archival materials, you need your scans to be as clear as possible. Even the slightest movement or vibration can negatively impact the quality of your scan, so it's best to not be near your camera if possible!

The second photo editing software I use is Photoshop. I use Photoshop for the majority of my photo editing and to export each TIFF as a JPEG that gets published online (we keep both the RAW and the TIFF file for each digitized image in our Digital Archives for preservation, but these files are much too large to be published online!).

Photoshop screenshot

While you can still edit photos with Capture One, I personally prefer using Photoshop to edit photos (I've been using Photoshop for far longer than I've been using Capture One, so maybe I'm just more comfortable with Photoshop). For digitization, editing photos is fairly simple. The first thing you'll need to do is invert your image if you're working with negatives. Then, you'll need to straighten and crop your photos and any extra editing you want to do. I try not to edit the photos too much so they stay as close to the original photo as possible (best archival practices say not to do any editing!). But I've found many of the old aerial photos I work with have deteriorated due to improper handling or storage over the years, so I like to edit them a bit to add contrast.

A quick tip: If you are digitizing several images at once, learn (or assign!) shortcuts and run scripts to save time! Trust me, you don't want to open 3 menus each time you want to adjust the levels of a photo when you're digitizing thousands of images!

In conclusion, each photo editing software is going to have the areas where it excels. You'll just have to test them out for yourself to see what you prefer! You can try watching tutorial videos online to get a feel for how the program operates, or you can download a trial to test it out!

If you're interested in a brief tutorial on how to use Capture One, check out my short 5-minute video on Youtube!