Colour vs Greyscale

17 March 2009 - A decision had to be made early on in The Serving Soldier on whether to scan photographic images in colour. The images in question were those of Major General Charles Howard Foulkes. Foulkes’ photograph albums span almost a lifetime in and out of military service and contain images gathered from around the globe, appealing to a broad range of academic interests. His subject matter varies greatly – from landscapes to human figures to the aftermath of war – demonstrating keen attention to detail and composition in each photograph. These date from the late nineteenth century to the post-war period of the twentieth century and provide fascinating insights into life and events around the world during this period of history.

 Colour photography was, at the time, still relatively in its infancy. Each of Foulkes’ images was developed from glass plate negatives (many of which have survived and are held in archive) in black and white. As our equipment and software can produce high quality scans in greyscale this was considered as an option, particularly since this takes considerably less time than scanning in colour and we were aware of time limitations. On producing a number of ‘test scans’ at a resolution of 800dpi, the quality did prove to be acceptable. 

However, when the same images were scanned in colour at 800dpi the results were profoundly different. Rich sepia tones greatly enhanced the quality and aesthetical values of the photographs. There was also far more scope for fine-tuning and alterations using Photoshop software later on. Some of the prints were badly worn or damaged (presumably during development or by over-exposure to light). By spending time adjusting the saturation, contrast and brightness levels, these could be restored to their former glory. Such results were unachievable with the greyscale tests, which had a ‘washed out’ look by comparison. The decision was made to scan all photographs in colour from there on.

Our exhibition (currently on display in the Strand campus) demonstrates perfectly the benefits of colour scans. When viewing the display as a whole, a spectrum of subtle shades and hues is presented, providing a rich depth on a level we did not anticipate. This would most certainly have been lost had we settled on greyscale scans. We were also pleased to include several images that we had restored through Photoshop and would otherwise have been unable to put on display.