Vintage 35mm digitalized images

[Old school]

Dear Alamy Contributors,

My wife and I are 'old school' photographers with 35,000 or so 35mm color slides using Nikon equipment and lens.  Most are Kodachrome 25 and 64.  We digitalized 1000s with the end result we have images with 150 to 250 megabits...too large to send by email.  Have any other ALAMY CONTRIBUTORS asked about submitting images in such large megabits and if so, what happened?  Also, there is an inherent loss of image fidelity between the original 35mm Kodachrome 25 and the digitalized results.  Any Contributors asked these questions? cheers, Flo and Paul

[spacecadet]

1 hour ago, MDM said:

 

 

 

 

The slide copier has a diffuser between the slide and the light source which I have used in really close as well so flare is not an issue at all. The D810 sensor has huge dynamic range and I have been able to capture a lot of detail in the highlights and shadows, much better than I expected and I think a lot better than from the LS4000 (which did in fact have a great reputation for high dynamic range when it was released. I did shoot raw of course. I uploaded that particular picture as an example of a very contrasty slide to show how capable the setup is. Anyway it has just gone to QC.

Opal glass is standard in the Immumitran- I assume the no-name enlarger lens I use has some internal flare. That's what I meant.

 

 

Edited November 7, 2019 by spacecadet

[Robert M Estall]

This thread has run and run, mostly I think because Paul & Flo have responded to suggestions. But it has become clear that THEY WILL NOT EDIT and THEY WILL NOT LEARN  HOW TO ADJUST THEIR HUGE FILES. Looking over their current portfolio on Alamy, this is a collection of holiday snaps, albeit fairly exclusive holiday locations. But all those bear shots from Brooks Lodge; they will be up against top shots from Natural History photographers! Sorry, but it is no contest! I can't think what your collection of 35,000 might look like.

 

Let me take you roughly through my figures: Over 50 years as a professional photographer after handing over the originals to several Travel Companies who commissioned me with the details of many hotels and tours I was left with perhaps 500,000 transparencies from a few books and self commissioned shoots. I edited out the exposure bracketing originals and the odd dubious focus shots as well as just duff ideas. That left me with 75,000 which I carefully captioned and filed away systematically in hanging sheets. Every one had a small printed caption label attached to the mounts. I sold rights directly to publishers from these files as well as submitting to agencies long before Alamy was born.

The world went digital surprisingly quickly so I decided I had better catch up on the technology and set about digitising. It would have been pointless to scan all those 75,000 (there were lots of repeats and similars so that I could distribute to lots of clients) so a big edit was required. I selected under 5000. They were scanned to about 50 megabit TIff files compressed using LZW lossless compression leaving files of about 25 megabits At this point we have numbers which are far more manageable than yours. That file is a mere 373 Gb. Fits with ease on my internal 1 TB hard drive and backup 3TB G-Tech firewire drive and fills less  than half my second 1 TB backup drive which lives in the barn.

 

From this fairly selected set of images, Alamy has grossed sales of $164,096 over about 12 years. Sales over this current year will be more like $4,000 which isn't so great, but is a welcome little boost to my retirement funds. I have a very nice little Pentax K-5 which is portable and discrete and produces about a 50 mb file for just occasional contributions to Alamy

 

I hope you put some of that deer on the menu. I'm fond of a nice pink bit of venison; the village butcher manages to get hold of some culled from local forests.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Robert M Estall

[Old school]

2 minutes ago, Robert M Estall said:

This thread has run and run, mostly I think because Paul & Flo have responded to suggestions. But it has become clear that THEY WILL NOT EDIT and THEY WILL NOT LEARN  HOW TO ADJUST THEIR HUGE FILES. Looking over their current portfolio on Alamy, this is a collection of holiday snaps, albeit fairly exclusive holiday locations. But all those bear shots from Brooks Lodge; they will be up against top shots from Natural History photographers! Sorry, but it is no contest! I can't think what your collection of 35,000 might look like.

 

Let me take you roughly through my figures: Over 50 years as a professional photographer after handing over the originals to several Travel Companies who commissioned me with the details of many hotels and tours I was left with perhaps 500,000 transparencies from a few books and self commissioned shoots. I edited out the exposure bracketing originals and the odd dubious focus shots as well as just duff ideas. That left me with 75,000 which I carefully captioned and filed away systematically in hanging sheets. Every one had a small printed caption label attached to the mounts. I sold rights directly to publishers from these files as well as submitting to agencies long before Alamy was born.

The world went digital surprisingly quickly so I decided I had better catch up on the technology and set about digitising. It would have been pointless to scan all those 75,000 (there were lots of repeats and similars so that I could distribute to lots of clients) so a big edit was required. I selected under 5000. They were scanned to about 50 megabit TIff files compressed using LZW lossless compression leaving files of about 25 megabits At this point we have numbers which are far more manageable than yours. That file is a mere 373 Gb. Fits with ease on my internal 1 TB hard drive and backup 3TB G-Tech firewire drive and fills less  than half my second 1 TB backup drive which lives in the barn.

 

From this fairly selected set of images, Alamy has grossed sales of $164,096 over about 12 years. Sales over this current year will be more like $4,000 which isn't so great, but is a welcome little boost to my retirement funds. I have a very nice little Pentax K-5 which is portable and discrete and produces about a 50 mb file for just occasional contributions to Alamy

 

I hope you put some of that deer on the menu. I'm fond of a nice pink bit of venison; the village butcher manages to get hold of some culled from local forests.

 

[Old school]

Just now, Old school said:

 

Top of the Morning to you, Robert,

Thank you for your time and efforts in replying to our original post.  Yes. Many ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs have replied.  If you took the time to scroll through all of the replies, many are from photographers who earn their living taking pictures as you did for 5-decades.  Along the way, you collected or had to purchase tools to provide the end result images for your clients.  We did not earn our livelihood by photography.  We both retired from the U.S. Army as Lieutenant Colonels-Flo as an Military Police and I as a Signal Corps Depot maintenance officer. And, I spent 2-decades in the diamond business.  You have done well with ALAMY.  And, you mastered the 'tool's to re-fit your 35mm slides (I assume Kodachrome 25 and then 64) to where your life's work in slide photography has provided well in the digital world.  We have been with ALAMY since mid-summer 2019 and the trip to the Katmai National Park was the first long trip.  Over the many decades in the Army, we managed to take a few slides around the world...it is those slides we are dealing with today.  Neither of us are computer savvy.  Considering additional costs to 'convert' 1000s of slides into JPEG images using various tools you and others have noted is problematic as we still do not know if the end-result will be accepted by ALAMY.  We are surfing the web looking for 'tools' that will convert TIFF images already on dual-layer disks.  Our last bastion of hope is to cull our slides and re-set our PACIFIC IMAGE machine to JPEG, scan and submit to ALAMY.

 

Again, Robert, our thanks for taking the time to reply.

Cheers, Flo and Paul

[M.Chapman]

36 minutes ago, Old school said:

We are surfing the web looking for 'tools' that will convert TIFF images already on dual-layer disks.

 

The tool is called Photoshop. In batch mode it can read hundreds of files from your DVD, convert them into a format suitable for Alamy (jpg) using just a few clicks and write them too a new disk. It *really* isn’t that difficult. Whether they will pass Alamy QC is another matter which will depend on the quality of your original slides and the scans.

 

If you have limited computer skills, then you may need to find a friend or someone to do it for you. Although, if you have limited computer skills, how are you participating in this forum, or uploading images to Alamy??? Makes no sense to me, using PS to do the conversion is EASY.

 

Mark

Edited November 7, 2019 by M.Chapman

[M.Chapman]

17 hours ago, MDM said:

 

I used an Icelight 2 LED (purchased at a bargain price just after they launched) very close in to the copier and auto WB on the camera but warm it up a lot as the D810 as well as a lot of other Nikon cameras default to a very cool WB. You can see the difference in colour between the unprocessed raw and the other two images. I actually took the WB in this case off a neutral grey patch of limestone as I recall visiting the same spot a few years ago and shooting a grey card which gave a very similar reading to the limestone - in other words, unweathered Burren limestone is pretty much a neutral grey.

 

The absolute WB values are not really relevant as they will depend on the light source as well but for what its worth the as shot WB was 4800, +4 and the value I got from using the eyedropper on the limestone was 5900, -11. The Icelight has a temperature around 5000 I find. I didn't use any presets. 

 

 

 

Thanks. I’m travelling at the moment, but will take a closer look at your files when I get back, and may post some of mine too. Ouch those Icelights are pricey...

 

Mark

[M.Chapman]

7 hours ago, spacecadet said:

 

I'd read all sorts before hand about transparencies exceeding the capabilities of sensors, and of course one was always supposed to kill some contrast when duplicating slides, but it proved not to be a problem. No Velvia though, but a bit of Fuji in there somewhere. But in my case it was probably flare in my setup that took care of it- not something you'd expect from a Nikkor, I dare say. In some cases I even had to increase contrast to get a bit more "snap"- especially with b/w negs, but that's not what you asked about.

 

My problem was less about a lack of dynamic range in the sensor, and more to do with creating a default preset which remapped the tonal range of Velvia into something that looks sensible and retrieves some of the detail from the shadows. I currently find that the shadow detail is frequently blocked out in the “as digitised” scan and needs lifting. 

 

Mark

[Old school]

10 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

 

The tool is called Photoshop. In batch mode it can read hundreds of files from your DVD, convert them into a format suitable for Alamy (jpg) using just a few clicks and write them too a new disk. It *really* isn’t that difficult. Whether they will pass Alamy QC is another matter which will depend on the quality of your original slides and the scans.

 

If you have limited computer skills, then you may need to find a friend or someone to do it for you. Although, if you have limited computer skills, how are you participating in this forum, or uploading images to Alamy??? Makes no sense to me, using PS to do the conversion is EASY.

 

Mark

T'aint easy for us old folks...plenty of gnashing of teeth and renting of sackcloth and considerable luck.  We have to have whatever software we are currently using set-up by another party to  install.  We thank you for recommending PHOTOSHOP.  We know of the name but that is the sum total of our collective knowledge.  We can, however, muddle through surfing the internet looking for whatever pops-up under PHOTOSHOP including asking for help from PHOTOSHOP's CUSTOMER SERVICE.  We read the 'trade-terms' in ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs replies who make recommendations such as your use of Icelight 2 LED but we haven't the foggiest idea what it is.  After many recommendations from ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs who noted products, tools and attachments, we are overwhelmed with what to do...AND, we are cautious about buying 'tools' that exceed our computer abilities to master only to find out the end-results from 'converting' TIFF to JPEG didn't work.  And, our PACIFIC IMAGE scanner is perhaps 10-years old which in digital photography, an ancient scanner.  Our last bastion of hope is to reset the PACIFIC IMAGE scanner to JPEG and re-do selected 35mm Kodachrome 25 slides. Even then, there is a probability that ALAMY's quality control won't accept.  The vast majority of our slides are Kodachrome 25 and 64 using Nikon cameras and glass with processing by Kodak.

 

We have also noted after 6-pages, that replies to our original question/replies, by ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs 'learn' from others as well.  Even if Flo and I end up status quo, perhaps some wisdom was gained by other ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs.

[Old school]

1 hour ago, Old school said:

 

Robert, You may appreciate this 'historical' bit of info from my Army years way back in the last century.  I had in my hands but did not use a 16mm motion picture camera with a 25,000 mm lens about the size of a box of cigars.  The camera was also equipped with a parabolic microphone.  I was told this camera was absolutely wonderful for wildlife photography...but, that is not what this gem was used for.  According to those who used this wizard in photography circa 1968, this camera and lens was able to photograph a pack of cigarettes at 1/4-mile and read the brand. The parabolic mic was capable of recording a match strike at 1/4-mile.  Now days, people's cell phone does such.

[MDM]

 

5 minutes ago, Old school said:

T'aint easy for us old folks...plenty of gnashing of teeth and renting of sackcloth and considerable luck.  We have to have whatever software we are currently using set-up by another party to  install.  We thank you for recommending PHOTOSHOP.  We know of the name but that is the sum total of our collective knowledge.  We can, however, muddle through surfing the internet looking for whatever pops-up under PHOTOSHOP including asking for help from PHOTOSHOP's CUSTOMER SERVICE.  We read the 'trade-terms' in ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs replies who make recommendations such as your use of Icelight 2 LED but we haven't the foggiest idea what it is.  After many recommendations from ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs who noted products, tools and attachments, we are overwhelmed with what to do...AND, we are cautious about buying 'tools' that exceed our computer abilities to master only to find out the end-results from 'converting' TIFF to JPEG didn't work.  And, our PACIFIC IMAGE scanner is perhaps 10-years old which in digital photography, an ancient scanner.  Our last bastion of hope is to reset the PACIFIC IMAGE scanner to JPEG and re-do selected 35mm Kodachrome 25 slides. Even then, there is a probability that ALAMY's quality control won't accept.  The vast majority of our slides are Kodachrome 25 and 64 using Nikon cameras and glass with processing by Kodak.

 

We have also noted after 6-pages, that replies to our original question/replies, by ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs 'learn' from others as well.  Even if Flo and I end up status quo, perhaps some wisdom was gained by other ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs.

 

I mentioned the Icelight in answering Mark's question about what light source I used for copying slides but I certainly didn't recommend anyone to buy or use one 🤣. I happened to have one lying around. It is a daylight continuous light that looks like a bit like a light sabre from Star Wars and is great for getting kids to pose. It also emits a beautiful light. 

 

Anyway having come this far I will try one more time. You don't need to rescan to JPEG. You simply need to open a TIFF file in any basic image editor and save as a JPEG. That is the most basic of computer operations and is very simple indeed. Photoshop is massive overkill - the nuclear option and you definitely don't need it. 

 

However, resaving as JPEG doesn't mean the quality is going to be up to scratch of course and most likely is not. A much better solution would be to select a much smaller batch of images and pay for them to be digitised professionally given that you are unable and/or unwilling to learn the basics of image editing. Ultimately you would need to do the most basic of operations such as cropping and lightening or darkening the images etc so again you could pay for that service. 

 

[MDM]

1 hour ago, M.Chapman said:

 

My problem was less about a lack of dynamic range in the sensor, and more to do with creating a default preset which remapped the tonal range of Velvia into something that looks sensible and retrieves some of the detail from the shadows. I currently find that the shadow detail is frequently blocked out in the “as digitised” scan and needs lifting. 

 

Mark

 

I don't think a one size fits all solution really works so I have just worked on each image individually. I have only done a few in any case - this is a project for the future for me if that day ever comes.

 

But I have had no problem getting detail back from shadows and highlights in processing the nef files. That one I posted was over a stop underexposed in the copying and I should probably have lifted the overall exposure even more than I did in LR but it has managed to capture plenty of shadow detail in any case. What is noticeable is the strong blue cast in the shadows - I think the Velvia is a much worse performer in this regard than my digital camera. This can be corrected in LR of course by local adjustments. I have just done another from the same batch which was correctly exposed in the copy and has also retained plenty of detail in highlights and shadows.

 

EDIT = I just posted another copy Aug023 which was overexposed by about 2/3 of a stop in the copy and have done some local adjustments on the raw to take out the blue cast in the shadows followed by similar treatment in Photoshop to improve noise in the sky area (gaussian blur on the sky and downsized). It is quite remarkable that it is possible to recover all this detail in the highlights on an overexposed copy. ETTR and all that. 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2019 by MDM

[Old school]

14 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

 

I mentioned the Icelight in answering Mark's question about what light source I used for copying slides but I certainly didn't recommend anyone to buy or use one 🤣. I happened to have one lying around. It is a daylight continuous light that looks like a bit like a light sabre from Star Wars and is great for getting kids to pose. It also emits a beautiful light. 

 

Anyway having come this far I will try one more time. You don't need to rescan to JPEG. You simply need to open a TIFF file in any basic image editor and save as a JPEG. That is the most basic of computer operations and is very simple indeed. Photoshop is massive overkill - the nuclear option and you definitely don't need it. 

 

However, resaving as JPEG doesn't mean the quality is going to be up to scratch of course and most likely is not. A much better solution would be to select a much smaller batch of images and pay for them to be digitised professionally given that you are unable and/or unwilling to learn the basics of image editing. Ultimately you would need to do the most basic of operations such as cropping and lightening or darkening the images etc so again you could pay for that service. 

 

Hi MDM, 

Again, our thanks...We read recommendations but many times the words mean nothing to us...this is an example of our knowledge throughout the replies and recommendations from other ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs: open a TIFF file in any basic image editor.  We have no idea what those words mean.  What 'basic image editor' do you mean?  Nor do we know how to 'open a TIFF' from what source...we have dual-lay disks with perhaps 40-TIFF images with huge files...150 to 250MB each.  Is that the 'TIFF' file your are referencing?  Then what?  "and save as a JPEG'  in what? Our computer's hard drive?  This is easy for you as you have done it for a lifetime; but, a real challenge for us.  Yes. Our distinct lack of knowledge doesn't help folks who are trying to help us.

Again, our thanks.

Cheers Flo and Paul

[MDM]

3 minutes ago, Old school said:

Hi MDM, 

Again, our thanks...We read recommendations but many times the words mean nothing to us...this is an example of our knowledge throughout the replies and recommendations from other ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs: open a TIFF file in any basic image editor.  We have no idea what those words mean.  What 'basic image editor' do you mean?  Nor do we know how to 'open a TIFF' from what source...we have dual-lay disks with perhaps 40-TIFF images with huge files...150 to 250MB each.  Is that the 'TIFF' file your are referencing?  Then what?  "and save as a JPEG'  in what? Our computer's hard drive?  This is easy for you as you have done it for a lifetime; but, a real challenge for us.  Yes. Our distinct lack of knowledge doesn't help folks who are trying to help us.

Again, our thanks.

Cheers Flo and Paul

 

You really do need a hands on lesson or two. I do recommend getting or paying somebody trustworthy to help you directly with whatever computer you are using. We are right back at the ABC of computer use here. 

[Old school]

3 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

You really do need a hands on lesson or two. I do recommend getting or paying somebody trustworthy to help you directly with whatever computer you are using. We are right back at the ABC of computer use here. 

Yup.  We agree.  The hiccup is finding outside help that is practical in computer technology being provided to persons not all that far for geriatrics and has more than a passing understanding of photography-digital and film/slide-and what our goals are: converting slides to useful JPEG and not go broke in the process.  Or, beat the crap out of our limited skills in computer science/software.  

'Tis truly a conundrum. 

Again, out thanks.

Cheers, Flo and Paul

[Brian Yarvin]

Good grief! I took a nice walk and had some lunch too and this is still going on!

[M.Chapman]

3 hours ago, Old school said:

Hi MDM, 

Again, our thanks...We read recommendations but many times the words mean nothing to us...this is an example of our knowledge throughout the replies and recommendations from other ALAMY CONTRIBUTORs: open a TIFF file in any basic image editor.  We have no idea what those words mean.  What 'basic image editor' do you mean?  Nor do we know how to 'open a TIFF' from what source...we have dual-lay disks with perhaps 40-TIFF images with huge files...150 to 250MB each.  Is that the 'TIFF' file your are referencing?  Then what?  "and save as a JPEG'  in what? Our computer's hard drive?  This is easy for you as you have done it for a lifetime; but, a real challenge for us.  Yes. Our distinct lack of knowledge doesn't help folks who are trying to help us.

Again, our thanks.

Cheers Flo and Paul

 

So how did you manage to upload over 1,000 images to Alamy?? Something doesn’t add up here. TIFF is a file format which we think has been used to store your scans on DVD. The filenames of each scanned image on your DVDs probably end in .tif or .tiff. JPG or JPEG is simply another file format used for storing images, it uses filenames that end in .jpg or .jpeg. This is the format that Alamy needs and which you have already been uploading. It’s easy to open a TIFF file from your DVD and then save as a JPG file on your computers hard disk using pretty much any image editor (as MDM said). Personally I’d recommend Photoshop Elements because it is cheaper and simpler than Photoshop but still has the batch processing capability that will allow the conversion of many files from TIFF format to JPG format to be automated.

 

Mark

Edited November 7, 2019 by M.Chapman

[Old school]

23 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

 

So how did you manage to upload over 1,000 images to Alamy?? Something doesn’t add up here. TIFF is a file format which we think has been used to store your scans on DVD. The filenames of each scanned image on your DVDs probably end in .tif or .tiff. JPG or JPEG is simply another file format used for storing images, it uses filenames that end in .jpg or .jpeg. This is the format that Alamy needs and which you have already been uploading. It’s easy to open a TIFF file from your DVD and then save as a JPG file on your computers hard disk using pretty much any image editor (as MDM said). Personally I’d recommend Photoshop Elements because it is cheaper and simpler than Photoshop but still has the batch processing capability that will allow the conversion of many files to be automated.

 

Mark

Hi Mark,

Okay.  To answer your first question...the JPEG images on ALAMY came from the picture file in our computer hard drive that were transferred to ALAMY's upload.  The JPEG images in our hard drive were downloaded from an SD/Compact flash card from the Nikon D810.  The camera will store in JPEG as well as TIFF concurrently.  We no  longer set the camera to store images in TIFF.  That is how we got 1,100+ images on ALAMY.  That is not our problem noted in our original plea for help.  We have 1000s of images scanned by a PACIFIC IMAGE system for TIFF.  The image files are huge...150-250MB each.  It is those TIFF images already on dual-layered disk we are struggling to get converted to JPEG and not go broke.  I opened one of these high resolution TIFF images, opened the 'file' to see the description.  There was a section called 'adjustments' that I opened.  There is a section in that file that says 'save a copy' which I opened.  In that file is another section 'save by type' with the only option is TIFF.  If there is a tool in our present storage/file that will permit us to 're-file' the image under JPEG from TIFF, I do not see it.  We do not recognize image editor in our computer.   So, we are back to PHOTOSHOP and/or ALAMYs help.  

 

Again, we thank all who have offered recommendations.  Cheers, Flo and Paul

[Chuck Nacke]

18 hours ago, Robert M Estall said:

This thread has run and run, mostly I think because Paul & Flo have responded to suggestions. But it has become clear that THEY WILL NOT EDIT and THEY WILL NOT LEARN  HOW TO ADJUST THEIR HUGE FILES. Looking over their current portfolio on Alamy, this is a collection of holiday snaps, albeit fairly exclusive holiday locations. But all those bear shots from Brooks Lodge; they will be up against top shots from Natural History photographers! Sorry, but it is no contest! I can't think what your collection of 35,000 might look like.

 

Let me take you roughly through my figures: Over 50 years as a professional photographer after handing over the originals to several Travel Companies who commissioned me with the details of many hotels and tours I was left with perhaps 500,000 transparencies from a few books and self commissioned shoots. I edited out the exposure bracketing originals and the odd dubious focus shots as well as just duff ideas. That left me with 75,000 which I carefully captioned and filed away systematically in hanging sheets. Every one had a small printed caption label attached to the mounts. I sold rights directly to publishers from these files as well as submitting to agencies long before Alamy was born.

The world went digital surprisingly quickly so I decided I had better catch up on the technology and set about digitising. It would have been pointless to scan all those 75,000 (there were lots of repeats and similars so that I could distribute to lots of clients) so a big edit was required. I selected under 5000. They were scanned to about 50 megabit TIff files compressed using LZW lossless compression leaving files of about 25 megabits At this point we have numbers which are far more manageable than yours. That file is a mere 373 Gb. Fits with ease on my internal 1 TB hard drive and backup 3TB G-Tech firewire drive and fills less  than half my second 1 TB backup drive which lives in the barn.

 

From this fairly selected set of images, Alamy has grossed sales of $164,096 over about 12 years. Sales over this current year will be more like $4,000 which isn't so great, but is a welcome little boost to my retirement funds. I have a very nice little Pentax K-5 which is portable and discrete and produces about a 50 mb file for just occasional contributions to Alamy

 

I hope you put some of that deer on the menu. I'm fond of a nice pink bit of venison; the village butcher manages to get hold of some culled from local forests.

I am with Robert.  I do not care what you have done and where you have been.  LEARN DIGITAL IMAGING or go away. Deleted.  Digital licensing is not a hobby, Alamy is not a hobby,  Deleted.

 

P.S. bet I have more K-14's in my basement then you do.

 

Chuck

Edited November 8, 2019 by Chuck Nacke
my mistake

[Old school]

4 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said:

I am with Robert.  I do not care what you have done and where you have been.  LEARN DIGITAL IMAGING or go away.  I have not seen a single image that you have uploaded to Alamy that would be missed.  Digital licensing is not a hobby, Alamy is not a hobby,  I suggest that you get with the program or get out of the way....

 

P.S. bet I have more K-14's in my basement then you do.

 

Chuck

Dear Chuck, Your words are rude to say the least!  We asked for assistance and explained our short comings...your post can best be summed up as CRAP!  Considering you have nothing nice to say...stick it in your ear!

[Marianne]

Does your DVD Player blink 12:00?

No, then you are not too old to learn!  

 

If you have a speck of dust on any of your scans, or on any of the jpegs that you are taking directly with your D810, then you will not be able to fix them without some sort of image editing program. Eventually, you will start to get QC failures, and you'll be out of luck. Photoshop Elements is less than $100. A Nikon D810, body only (i.e. without a lens) is around $1,500. You said you've spent years scanning those files. So why won't you purchase software that lets you do what you want, make those huge tiffs into tiny little jpegs to upload? You asked how to do it and we've told you.

 

There is also a free program called GIMP, but, despite being computer savvy, I found the installation process for that one o be a bit daunting. (and it may be because I'm on a MAC, I needed to set up some sort of interface so it would work). I wanted to use it as an alternative to Illustrator, since I just have the Adobe CC Photo bundle (Photoshop and Lightroom), which BTW, with tax, costs less than $12/month. With Adobe, you download it from the internet, click on the icon and it installs itself. You don't need help. 

 

Given that you are clearly taking expensive vacations and bought yourselves a high end camera despite being amateurs, I'm not sure why you are resistant to spending another $100 for software that will do the trick. Go to the Library and take out a book on Photoshop Elements, spend a week of your retirement and learn it. You will thank us. Honestly! 

 

I think that people are frustrated because you are asking for help but refusing to listen to the most basic suggestions. 

 

If you are on a MAC you can open a tiff file in Photos (formerly iPhoto) and then save it as a jpeg.  I only use it to Export photos of my grandson, much prefer all the bells and whistles on PS and LR, but it opens RAW and TIFF files.

 

Another idea -  how are you viewing your images now from your camera? Are you using some sort of Nikon software? I used the old Nikon Capture but that was ages ago, not sure what they have now but it should let you open a TIFF and then save it as a jpeg. 

 

I'm a senior citizen by the way and find the best way to stay young is to keep learning, When I was in college I used a computer exactly once, in a geology class, we had to punch holes in some cards and the computer took up an entire room. I worked as a reporter for a year after college and we reporters used electric typewriters. And I'm 20 years younger than some of the folks on this forum, so don't say you're too old to learn computers

 

I get that computer phobia thing but you have had decades to get over it. Honestly, as a lawyer I was a whiz at computer research but I relied on my secretary for basic work processing because it seemed so complex. Then I decided, as a middle aged mom, that I better learn how to use a computer for more than email and research. I learned Photoshop a few years after I bought my first computer, not long after I learned MS DOS and then Word (which had intimidated me, honestly, I get it). But guess what, the basics of PS and LR were surprisingly easy. You can do amazing things with both programs, but you can also just use it for the basics.

 

Most important, if you are going to license stock photos, you will need to learn how to edit your photos. And you should be shooting RAW - you have this fancy camera that is capable of so much and you are using it like an iPhone! Why not just buy the D3100 if you're going to shoot jpegs? Or a simple point and shoot? You could have each bought your own camera for what you spent on the D810. 

 

I'm not trying to be mean here, but it is so frustrating to have dilettantes come on here, ask questions, and then say nope, don't need that I'll just use $2-3k worth of camera equipment and superb lenses (you must have had a nice pricey zoom for those bear images) to shoot jpegs and refuse to learn the basic tools needed to be a weekend stock shooter.

 

If you want a more hands on approach, take a Photoshop class at adult ed at your local high school - you will probably even get a student discount on the software as a result! Otherwise, head to the library, get a book on PS Elements, and learn it. If you are operating a D810 and a scanner, you can learn PS Elements - at least enough to insure that the hours you spent scanning all that film won't go to waste. Scanned transparencies are likely to be dusty, you will need to clean them up even if you used digital ICE tech to do a first pass. How do you clean dust spots? In PS or LR. 

Edited November 8, 2019 by Marianne

[MDM]

12 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

 

P.S. bet I have more K-14's in my basement then you do.

 

Chuck

 

Sounds like something that might emanate these days from a big white house somewhere not a million miles away from where you are based. Is it catching? 🙄🤔

[Old school]

5 hours ago, Marianne said:

Does your DVD Player blink 12:00?

No, then you are not too old to learn!  

 

If you have a speck of dust on any of your scans, or on any of the jpegs that you are taking directly with your D810, then you will not be able to fix them without some sort of image editing program. Eventually, you will start to get QC failures, and you'll be out of luck. Photoshop Elements is less than $100. A Nikon D810, body only (i.e. without a lens) is around $1,500. You said you've spent years scanning those files. So why won't you purchase software that lets you do what you want, make those huge tiffs into tiny little jpegs to upload? You asked how to do it and we've told you.

 

There is also a free program called GIMP, but, despite being computer savvy, I found the installation process for that one o be a bit daunting. (and it may be because I'm on a MAC, I needed to set up some sort of interface so it would work). I wanted to use it as an alternative to Illustrator, since I just have the Adobe CC Photo bundle (Photoshop and Lightroom), which BTW, with tax, costs less than $12/month. With Adobe, you download it from the internet, click on the icon and it installs itself. You don't need help. 

 

Given that you are clearly taking expensive vacations and bought yourselves a high end camera despite being amateurs, I'm not sure why you are resistant to spending another $100 for software that will do the trick. Go to the Library and take out a book on Photoshop Elements, spend a week of your retirement and learn it. You will thank us. Honestly! 

 

I think that people are frustrated because you are asking for help but refusing to listen to the most basic suggestions. 

 

If you are on a MAC you can open a tiff file in Photos (formerly iPhoto) and then save it as a jpeg.  I only use it to Export photos of my grandson, much prefer all the bells and whistles on PS and LR, but it opens RAW and TIFF files.

 

Another idea -  how are you viewing your images now from your camera? Are you using some sort of Nikon software? I used the old Nikon Capture but that was ages ago, not sure what they have now but it should let you open a TIFF and then save it as a jpeg. 

 

I'm a senior citizen by the way and find the best way to stay young is to keep learning, When I was in college I used a computer exactly once, in a geology class, we had to punch holes in some cards and the computer took up an entire room. I worked as a reporter for a year after college and we reporters used electric typewriters. And I'm 20 years younger than some of the folks on this forum, so don't say you're too old to learn computers

 

I get that computer phobia thing but you have had decades to get over it. Honestly, as a lawyer I was a whiz at computer research but I relied on my secretary for basic work processing because it seemed so complex. Then I decided, as a middle aged mom, that I better learn how to use a computer for more than email and research. I learned Photoshop a few years after I bought my first computer, not long after I learned MS DOS and then Word (which had intimidated me, honestly, I get it). But guess what, the basics of PS and LR were surprisingly easy. You can do amazing things with both programs, but you can also just use it for the basics.

 

Most important, if you are going to license stock photos, you will need to learn how to edit your photos. And you should be shooting RAW - you have this fancy camera that is capable of so much and you are using it like an iPhone! Why not just buy the D3100 if you're going to shoot jpegs? Or a simple point and shoot? You could have each bought your own camera for what you spent on the D810. 

 

I'm not trying to be mean here, but it is so frustrating to have dilettantes come on here, ask questions, and then say nope, don't need that I'll just use $2-3k worth of camera equipment and superb lenses (you must have had a nice pricey zoom for those bear images) to shoot jpegs and refuse to learn the basic tools needed to be a weekend stock shooter.

 

If you want a more hands on approach, take a Photoshop class at adult ed at your local high school - you will probably even get a student discount on the software as a result! Otherwise, head to the library, get a book on PS Elements, and learn it. If you are operating a D810 and a scanner, you can learn PS Elements - at least enough to insure that the hours you spent scanning all that film won't go to waste. Scanned transparencies are likely to be dusty, you will need to clean them up even if you used digital ICE tech to do a first pass. How do you clean dust spots? In PS or LR. 

Dear Marianne,

We thank you for taking time to reply to our original question.  Your personal reflections on how you 'worked through' technical challenges is most encouraging.  We are currently applying to ALAMY for the 'vintage/archival' program while we work through recommendations from ALAMY CONTRIBUTORS like yourself.  Then, we consistently note from other ALAMY CONTRIBUTORS the use of PHOTOSHOP and similar software to 'convert' TIFF to JPEG and not go broke.  There are more than 6-pages of replies to our original question...responses are overwhelming; some CONTRIBUTORS appreciate the question and our shortcomings and some don't.  Some are plain mean-spirited.  On a lighter note, we used a Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR Lens to 'reach out' to bears which are everywhere including cubs; and, we opted to rent and not buy. Our June 2019  Katmai National Park trip was more than 14-months in the making via KATMAILAND.  We were there 2-nights, great weather and plenty of photographers with cameras that were the top of the line and lens.  One photographer had a  Nikon AF-S Nikkor 600mm f/4E FL ED Vr lens on a Nikon D850.

 

Again, Marianne, we thank you for taking the time to reply to our original question.  And, for your appreciation of our lacking computer technical skill sets and how you overcame similar challenges.  Our own frustrations of reviewing recommendations to determine what works for us is now the challenge.  Cheers, Flo and Paul

[MDM]

5 hours ago, Marianne said:

Does your DVD Player blink 12:00?

No, then you are not too old to learn!  

 

If you have a speck of dust on any of your scans, or on any of the jpegs that you are taking directly with your D810, then you will not be able to fix them without some sort of image editing program. Eventually, you will start to get QC failures, and you'll be out of luck. Photoshop Elements is less than $100. A Nikon D810, body only (i.e. without a lens) is around $1,500. You said you've spent years scanning those files. So why won't you purchase software that lets you do what you want, make those huge tiffs into tiny little jpegs to upload? You asked how to do it and we've told you.

 

There is also a free program called GIMP, but, despite being computer savvy, I found the installation process for that one o be a bit daunting. (and it may be because I'm on a MAC, I needed to set up some sort of interface so it would work). I wanted to use it as an alternative to Illustrator, since I just have the Adobe CC Photo bundle (Photoshop and Lightroom), which BTW, with tax, costs less than $12/month. With Adobe, you download it from the internet, click on the icon and it installs itself. You don't need help. 

 

Given that you are clearly taking expensive vacations and bought yourselves a high end camera despite being amateurs, I'm not sure why you are resistant to spending another $100 for software that will do the trick. Go to the Library and take out a book on Photoshop Elements, spend a week of your retirement and learn it. You will thank us. Honestly! 

 

I think that people are frustrated because you are asking for help but refusing to listen to the most basic suggestions. 

 

If you are on a MAC you can open a tiff file in Photos (formerly iPhoto) and then save it as a jpeg.  I only use it to Export photos of my grandson, much prefer all the bells and whistles on PS and LR, but it opens RAW and TIFF files.

 

Another idea -  how are you viewing your images now from your camera? Are you using some sort of Nikon software? I used the old Nikon Capture but that was ages ago, not sure what they have now but it should let you open a TIFF and then save it as a jpeg. 

 

I'm a senior citizen by the way and find the best way to stay young is to keep learning, When I was in college I used a computer exactly once, in a geology class, we had to punch holes in some cards and the computer took up an entire room. I worked as a reporter for a year after college and we reporters used electric typewriters. And I'm 20 years younger than some of the folks on this forum, so don't say you're too old to learn computers

 

I get that computer phobia thing but you have had decades to get over it. Honestly, as a lawyer I was a whiz at computer research but I relied on my secretary for basic work processing because it seemed so complex. Then I decided, as a middle aged mom, that I better learn how to use a computer for more than email and research. I learned Photoshop a few years after I bought my first computer, not long after I learned MS DOS and then Word (which had intimidated me, honestly, I get it). But guess what, the basics of PS and LR were surprisingly easy. You can do amazing things with both programs, but you can also just use it for the basics.

 

Most important, if you are going to license stock photos, you will need to learn how to edit your photos. And you should be shooting RAW - you have this fancy camera that is capable of so much and you are using it like an iPhone! Why not just buy the D3100 if you're going to shoot jpegs? Or a simple point and shoot? You could have each bought your own camera for what you spent on the D810. 

 

I'm not trying to be mean here, but it is so frustrating to have dilettantes come on here, ask questions, and then say nope, don't need that I'll just use $2-3k worth of camera equipment and superb lenses (you must have had a nice pricey zoom for those bear images) to shoot jpegs and refuse to learn the basic tools needed to be a weekend stock shooter.

 

If you want a more hands on approach, take a Photoshop class at adult ed at your local high school - you will probably even get a student discount on the software as a result! Otherwise, head to the library, get a book on PS Elements, and learn it. If you are operating a D810 and a scanner, you can learn PS Elements - at least enough to insure that the hours you spent scanning all that film won't go to waste. Scanned transparencies are likely to be dusty, you will need to clean them up even if you used digital ICE tech to do a first pass. How do you clean dust spots? In PS or LR. 

 

Agree with so much of what you are saying here Marianne and have highlighted some of the best bits in quoting. The lifelong learning thing is so important. I could eulogise on that one. 

 

The only thing I would change is that I think they probably need direct guidance in the first place as they appear incapable of standing back and trying to understand the situation on their own so why not spend a few dollars on getting somebody to kickstart them with a few really basic lessons on computing, assessing their actual kit (PC) and then follow on with books or online learning including digital imaging. If they can afford cruises and expensive cameras, they can afford to pay to get re-started.

 

No doubt that a big part of the problem is they went down a blind canyon years ago and have effectively wasted a huge amount of time if not money which is probably very hard to admit. Also the fact that there are two people means that they are likely to be re-enforcing their beliefs that they are actually inadequate and unwilling to change and restart.

 

Finally I believe they mean well or I wouldn't have bothered here at all. What a thread.

[Old school]

19 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

 

The tool is called Photoshop. In batch mode it can read hundreds of files from your DVD, convert them into a format suitable for Alamy (jpg) using just a few clicks and write them too a new disk. It *really* isn’t that difficult. Whether they will pass Alamy QC is another matter which will depend on the quality of your original slides and the scans.

 

If you have limited computer skills, then you may need to find a friend or someone to do it for you. Although, if you have limited computer skills, how are you participating in this forum, or uploading images to Alamy??? Makes no sense to me, using PS to do the conversion is EASY.

 

Mark

Hi Mark,

We agree with your recommendation to "... find a friend or someone to do it for you."  From all of the recommendations from ALAMY CONTRIBUTORS to 'remedy' our TIFF to JPEG issues, we are overwhelmed.  'Trade-terms' in this arena are 'new' to us so we have to 'read-up' on what is being recommended.  Use of PHOTOSHOP is frequently recommended as a very useful tool...so, we will GOOGLE PHOTOSHOP and  read the details...we can also quirey PHOTOSHOP technical folks for their input.  As for our  participation with the ALAMY FORUM and uploading images, most of our efforts to-date are plain PLUCK!  We also relied on CUSTOMER SERVICES patients to 'explain' our dilemmas which they helped us to first understand and then to implement solutions...but, then again, CUSTOMER SERVICE gets requests like ours frequently knowing that helping 'newbies' with ALAMY is not to 'talk over their head' when helping.  Flo and I are not stupid...just ignorant of the topic at hand  and costs involved...a circumstance frequently lost on folks making recommendation who have already mastered the techniques we are struggling to learn.

 

Again, our thanks for helping us to understand where we are at in the maze of 'trade-terms' and solving our problem.  cheers, Flo and Paul

[Old school]

1 hour ago, MDM said:

 

Agree with so much of what you are saying here Marianne and have highlighted some of the best bits in quoting. The lifelong learning thing is so important. I could eulogise on that one. 

 

The only thing I would change is that I think they probably need direct guidance in the first place as they appear incapable of standing back and trying to understand the situation on their own so why not spend a few dollars on getting somebody to kickstart them with a few really basic lessons on computing, assessing their actual kit (PC) and then follow on with books or online learning including digital imaging. If they can afford cruises and expensive cameras, they can afford to pay to get re-started.

 

No doubt that a big part of the problem is they went down a blind canyon years ago and have effectively wasted a huge amount of time if not money which is probably very hard to admit. Also the fact that there are two people means that they are likely to be re-enforcing their beliefs that they are actually inadequate and unwilling to change and restart.

 

Finally I believe they mean well or I wouldn't have bothered here at all. What a thread.

Dear MDM, well said. cheers, Flo and Paul