This & That: The Dreaded Dots

     by Elizabeth B. Wright    February 2005

HOT TIP #1: (At least I think it is.) Now that you have your new digital camera, use it to help improve all those old newspaper clippings with pictures you want to digitize. Arrange some kind of easel (my first attempt was propping the clipping up against a water glass on the kitchen table). Then use your digital camera to photograph the image. When you transfer the picture to your computer, you will have pretty much eliminated the dots that make up newspaper and magazine pictures. I suppose you can just photograph an entire article and get much the same results, but the particular problem with scanned newsprint images leads to a lot of manipulation in your photo editing software. Perhaps the digital camera automatically smoothes over the dots that make up a grayscale newspaper image, I don’t know. But whatever it does, it’s sure a lot faster, and I think better, than fooling with smoothing with photo programs. There will still be some photo enhancement needed, probably, but the whole article will have the same texture, hopefully making it easier to improve and archive.

HOT TIP #2: Actually this one has been around forever, but is so easily missed by even knowledgeable users. When scanning anything that has writing or pictures on both sides of the paper, place the paper in your scanner, then put a truly black piece of paper, cardboard, poster board or any other black, opaque material on top of it. When the paper is scanned, the black paper (or whatever) will block the light from scanning through to the reverse side and picking up whatever is on it. If the reverse is heavily imprinted, this might not eliminate all of it, but will certainly improve 99% of what you scan.

My big problem at present is trying to figure out the best way to upgrade my computer so I can transfer the many, many VHS tapes I have to DVDs. Probably by the time I get it done, DVD will be obsolete and I will need to upgrade to some other technology. I don’t think it is possible to win this one. Mainly I want to transfer my old family videos to something a little easier to watch and also have copies for other family members. When I get into this procedure, I will let you know how it plays out. I have video editing software already which I have used for the short movies I take with my digital camera. Some programs are easier to use than others. One I have found that works rather well is PhotoMVP by Arcsoft. It is quite easy to use, makes some of the newer video formats, mpeg2, for instance, and is a good starter program. Since Irfanview has the capability, with plugins, to play the mpeg2 format, I find the combination of the two programs a good match for my level of expertise.

It was a daunting prospect to buy Christmas gifts for the men in my family. I’m sure most of you have the same problem. My son, husband and son-in-law have said “No more golf balls!!”. Our son gets all of them he needs when they fly into his yard (and sometimes the house and car) from the golf course next door to him. He shares the ones he recovers with the other two. So this year, my son received from Mom and Dad a coffee mug featuring a Beverly’s Chicken in the Rough logo (the Oklahoma City readers will recognize it). Our son-in-law got a hand-held mouse to use when he makes presentations from his laptop computer. And my husband was given his Santa request, a snap closure change purse. For those of you our age, who can remember your grandfathers, born in the late 1800s, you may also remember that many of them carried such an item. Believe me, they are not all that easy to find for today’s man. In fac,t what I gave him is a rather sorry substitute. Maybe one of these days I will find the real thing for him.

And then our son-in-law had a birthday. By then I figured no one can have too many miniature USB key chain type hard drives, so that is what he received. And wonder of wonders, he said he did not have one yet. I think he will get a lot of good out of it.

 

Elizabeth Wright is a member of the CCOKC and a regular writer for the eMonitor