Some letters have quite a bit of family historical importance. They can be on various types of paper, some quite dark, with different inks and colors. Some of the paper has acid and age quite fragile. One technique is to scan in RGB color at 300 dpi, and then examine individual RGB channels or even some other color mode like LAB. Some inks may be clearer in one channel, and others in a different channel. So, a handmade composite in Photoshop may yield best results.

A color scan is also very handy for removing things like coffee stains and such because they stand out much more in a color scan if the actual letter content is essentially B&W it is very labor intensive but is worth the effort for irreplaceable documents.

Also you may encounter multicolored inks and "bleeding through" when both sides of paper were used, there are old airmail letters from Europe on *blue*, very thin and practically transparent paper with *blue* ink writing on both sides. Black velvet is the answer for transparent letters. Lay the transparent paper on the scanner then lay the velvet over the top. Black velvet is excellent for absorbing light and should give you a clear scan with only the side facing the light showing writing, some Photoshop work will also be required for the best image.

The scanned image here is a letter written from a lonely GI in Battery C 489th Armored, to his sweetheart in America on New Years Day 1945, sixty years ago after the Battle of the Bulge had been fought and the tides had turned on the German aggression in Europe. We can only imagine what it felt like to be there, on that cold snowy night with mortars going off, while this GI was pining for his sweetheart.

The imaging advancements, the technology of 2004 has brought to us now enables me to share with you the memories of a time gone by. Much the way all our images created today will enable future generations to keep in mind, times gone by. So you say what does this have to do with photography??

Well, I see this as a photograph of the heart of a young soldier, dated January 1, 1945.

Other Articles by John:

Getting Old
RGB & Violet
Smaller Camera Bags
Fun with Optics
Canyonlands, Utah
Scanning Old Letters
Bedke's Advice - Photoshop

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