Digital Capture

General

Digital Capture (or DC) is how we duplicate originals larger then 8.5" x 11.5". These ARE NOT high resolution scans, but simply digitally altered photograph of the original. The end result will not be as high resolution as a flatbed scan, but this is the only way we can capture the entire image at the same time.

Process

Digital captures start in Renee's Digital Capture cave, orders should be left in there. Renee should be informed either verbally, or with a note that the Digital Capture's are waiting for him.

Renee will take a series of digital photo's of the original image using his DSLR camera and studio lighting available. He will capture several images, bracketing them with a lighter, medium, and darker light range. When he is finished he will leave the original and a separate Compact Flash(CF) card from his DSLR camera with the RAW images at the Digital Image Technician's table. (NOTE: This is Color Services Compact Flash card, and should stay IN THE LAB)

When technician is ready, plug the given card into your computer using a USB 2.0 card reader that can read CF (Compact Flash cards). Copy all the .RAW files included on the card to the customers designated folder on the server. I recommend creating an ORIGINALS sub-folder to keep the .RAW files to avoid clutter, as there may be large quantity of .RAW files. You want to keep these .RAW files, and leave them untouched, so we can always start from the beginning if necessary.

Adjusting Files

This is the most complicated part of the Digital Capture process. When matching a Digital Capture to an original image you have to keep in mind several things: original white color, effect of the studio lights, white of the new paper, back light from computer monitor.