Vinismo is written by its readers -- Internet users like you -- and we need your help! Try our getting started guide to learn how.
Pictures of wine labels are necessary to illustrate wine pages. But where can we find them?
Here are a few ways to get clean pictures of wine labels. Feel free to add to this page if you have other ideas!
IMPORTANT: Wine labels are usually copyrighted, but you can use them in Vinismo under the principle of "Fair Use". See Wine labels and fair use for details.
edit Finding wine labels on the Web
Wine labels can be found on the Web using search engines such as Google Images or Flickr.
However, most wine labels don't make it to the Web and those who do are often low-res, blurry of "GIF-fy". So, it's generally best to make these pictures yourself from real wine bottles...
edit Peeling labels off wine bottles
The cleanest pictures are obtained by removing labels from bottles, then scanning them.
There are many different ways to remove wine labels from bottles, which can involve overnight soaking, steaming, blow-drying or freezing, with the help of a variety of household products from razor blades to gasoline. Here are a few good step-by-step guides to label removal on the Web:
- http://www.winelabels.org/remove.htm
- http://www.grape-nutz.com/soldiers/labels/removal.html
- http://www.ehow.com/how_2138159_remove-store-wine-labels.html
Label removers are sold through websites and wine magazines. These are large, strong adhesive tapes that remove the upper layer of the label and instantly give you a laminated wine label. However, they can cost up to 1 dollar each and they don't succeed everytime.
Whatever method you choose, they all involve long and delicate operations which can become painfully repetitive, with an unsatisfying success rate - not to mention the mess in your kitchen.
edit Flattening labels digitally
Tired of peeling off labels from their bottles to get a flat image? Here's a good trick:
Good pictures can be obtained quickly by scanning or photographing bottles, then "flattening" their labels digitally with an image-processing software.
Though not as clean as a peeled-off label, a "digitally-flattened" label can do the job for Vinismo because it will usually be displayed in a small area of the page and you won't see most of its flaws. Furthermore, wine labels in Vinismo don't have to be beautiful hi-resolution images; the most important criteria is their readability.
Note: This method is also available as a WikiHow guide.
edit i) Scan or photograph your bottle
First, get a good close shot of your bottle, either with your scanner or your digital camera. If you use your scanner, put a newspaper over your bottle to mask external light. Scanner shots are closer and give a higher resolution, but depending of your machine you may lose a lot of luminosity on both sides of the curve.
If you prefer to use your camera, put your bottle in the daylight to get optimum light, without getting direct sun exposure. Try to get close enough to have a big image but far enough to avoid blur - and keep in mind that blur can occur on the resulting image even if it still looks sharp on the camera screen. You should aim at the middle of the label and put your camera on a tripod or a book to ensure stability.
edit ii) Prepare your picture
Once your picture taken, you should adjust its levels, either manually or with an "auto-level" function. In Photoshop, these are in the Image > Adjustments sub-menu.
If your picture is slightly tilted, you must align it vertically. In Photoshop, go to Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary then choose your degree of rotation, either clockwise (CW) or counter-clockwise (CCW).
Now crop your picture to the size of the label. In Photoshop, select the area with the Rectangular Marquee Tool then go to Image > Crop.
edit iii) Start the magic
Two operations can be done to lessen the curve of the bottle. You can do one or the other, or both of them; choose what suits best your picture. Once you've found your perfect settings, you can quickly repeat these steps for all your labels.
- Horizontal de-spherizing: This operation masks the horizontal curve of the bottle, giving all characters the same width on your label. In Photoshop, go to Filter > Distort > Spherize then choose a negative value between -50 and -30.
- Distortion removal: This operation straightens the borders of your label, creating right angles so you can do a clean crop. In Photoshop, go to Filter > Distort > Lens Correction then set the Remove Distortion tab to a value between +4 and +10.
Once again, these methods you won't get the perfect equivalent of a flat picture scanned from a peeled-off label, but it still should produce clean and readable wine labels. Feel free to add to this page if you know other methods for getting better results.
Once you're finished, apply a final crop to your image before adding it to Vinismo.
