The other day I read a post from a person who had a photograph that was in such bad repair that it was almost impossible to put it on a flat bed scanner without doing further damage. They also stated that their attempts at taking a photograph of the photo was a failure. in the end, they were going to take the photo to a professional photographer and get them to digitize it and if possable, repair it.
I recently did something similar. Although my photograph was in excellent condition, it was far to big for a flat bed scanner. so, I took the photo out of it's frame, took it outside and took a whole lot of photo's with a digital camera. Getting as much light as possible onto the subject is the secret to get the best results.
To reproduce a photo using digital cameras without getting distortion is a problem. So to avoid taking the photo from an angle, which you may have to do avoid reflection from a flash. I found that if you place the camera on a flat surface on or near the ground, you can stand above the photo and get square over it. this will avoid perspective distortions.
The best thing about digital cameras is you can take as many photos as you like until you get the result your after. Once you transfer the photos to the computer, It's just a matter of cropping the excess around the photo and adjusting the brightness, contrast and colour balance for best effect.
deadants