Need advice for desktop photos of photo album

[buddymedbery]

Sorry for longish explanation. My father made a scrapbook of his experiences in WW II, and it consists of photos affixed to black pages with photo corners, and various annotations in white ink. I am going to remove the photos for preservation in archival storage, and hopefully replace them with copies made after scanning for digital archival storage. But I would like to digitally/photographically preserve the look of the album. I am thinking I will photograph each page and transcribe the sometimes fading captions to accompany the photos of the pages.

I need advice on the best lighting set-up for photographing the pages. Type of lights, diffusers, reflectors, light box etc. Within some reasonably high limits, cost is not really a factor.

 

[Tony S]

Basically you need two lights, one on each side at 45 degrees to the image, set the camera up on a copy stand or use a tripod (they can be adjusted to all kinds of positions). Use a meter, or gray card to set your exposure and set a custom white balance (read your manual). A polarizing filter will help with some of the reflections you will get off the photography you are trying to copy.

A quick Google search using the term "photo copy stand" comes up with tons of DIY ideas without having to buy a bunch of stuff.