How To Turn Photos of Paper Documents into Scanned Documents

In today’s digital world, having a paper document isn’t always the most practical. It’s often more convenient to have a digital copy that you can easily share and store. In this article, we’ll guide you through several methods on how to turn photos of paper documents into scanned documents.

Using Software: ScanTailor and GIMP

ScanTailor and GIMP are two powerful software tools that can help you transform your photos into scanned documents.

ScanTailor

ScanTailor is a software that optimizes your photos in six steps, allowing you to equalize illumination and achieve a clean, scanned look. It saves the output as TIFF files. To convert these TIFF files into PDF, you can use the convert command in the console.

For example, to convert a TIFF file to PDF, you would use the following command:

convert input.tiff output.pdf

In this command, input.tiff is the name of your TIFF file and output.pdf is the name of the PDF file you want to create.

GIMP

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is another software option that requires basic skills. You can crop the picture and use the “Colors” -> “Curves” option to adjust the color output and achieve a clean result.

Using gscan2pdf

gscan2pdf is a program that allows you to load photos and export them as PDF. It also provides a link to GIMP for further improvement using the steps mentioned above.

Manual Steps Using GIMP

If you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can manually adjust your photos using GIMP. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Capture the Photo: Choose a bright light source, use a tripod, and capture the image from a larger distance with a telephoto lens for the best possible photo.
2. Desaturate the Image: Convert the image to grayscale for better contrast and removal of colored pixel artifacts.
3. Adjust Brightness and Contrast: Use the “Colors” > “Levels” tool in GIMP to make the background white and the text black.
4. Remove Distortion: If your photo has cushion distortion, choose a zoom level with minimal artifacts or use plugins specifically designed for this purpose.
5. Align the Image: Rotate, crop, or use the perspective transform tool to align the image and select the document source.
6. Remove Shadows: Manually remove unwanted shadows caused by bending, folds, or lens artifacts using the eraser tool.
7. Avoid Scaling: Instead of scaling the image, adjust the print size from the printer dialog.
8. Generate a PDF: Import the restored image into LibreOffice, define its dimensions, and export as PDF.

Using Mobile Apps

If you have a good camera on your phone or tablet, you can use apps like CamScanner for Android or Scannable for iPhone to import the image, crop, flatten, and adjust colors/contrast. These apps can quickly generate a suggested crop and provide basic image processing capabilities.

Conclusion

Turning photos of paper documents into scanned documents is a task that can be accomplished through various methods. Whether you prefer using software like ScanTailor and GIMP, a program like gscan2pdf, manual adjustments, or mobile apps, the choice is yours. Each method has its own set of steps and procedures, but all aim to achieve the same result: a clean, digital version of your paper document.