Transmissive Labeling SOP

Continuous strip, perforation holes top and bottom, 2–4 frames per scan. Usually a very dark negative.

image_area every frame incl. partials · sprockets every visible hole

• Brighten first (see Dark scans) so true frame edges show.
• One 4-point rectangle per frame, tilted with the strip.
• Run edges straight through underexposed black regions.
• Frame edge crossing the sprocket row → keep the straight line; overlap is fine.
• Partial frame at scan edge → end at the threshold of visibility. Judgement call; keep it rectangular, just smaller.
• One tight box per sprocket hole. Cut-off hole → box the visible part; skip thin slivers.

• Skipping the faint frame peeking in at the strip end.
• Stretching partials to the input-image edge.
• Cutting the rectangle inward where the image goes black.
• One long box across the whole sprocket row.

One image window inside a cardboard, plastic, or paper mount (Kodachrome, "NAT. GEO. SOC."). No perforations visible.

image_area window · slide_mount full outer rectangle

• slide_mount = whole outer rectangle of the visible mount. It overlaps the window inside — expected; never cut the window out.
• Include the angled inner lip that bevels toward the film, right up to the window.
• Carrier or scanner hides part of the mount → follow the visible edge only; don't guess the hidden extent.
• image_area = tight rectangle on the film window, tilted with the slide.
• Adjacent slides peeking in at the sides → label their visible slide_mount partials too; add image_area only if their window shows (mount-only partials are labeled — client-approved).

• Donut-shaped mount with the window carved out.
• Extending the mount into black where you assume it continues.
• Labeling slide-tray holes as sprockets — a tray is not film.

Archival plastic page holding a grid of mounted slides, typically 4 × 5 pockets.

Per slide: image_area + slide_mount. Up to 20 pairs per scan.

• Work in reading order (left→right, top→bottom) so nothing is missed.
• Each slide follows Playbook 02 exactly.
• Every slide sits at its own rotation in its pocket — match each tilt individually.
• Empty pockets get nothing.
• Before saving: count shapes = slides × 2.

• Labeling the pocket edge of the plastic sheet instead of the mount edge.
• Copy-pasting one rotation onto all 20 slides.
• Missing one slide in a full sheet — that's why you count.

Continuous strip, multiple frames, few or no visible perforation holes. Wider film; frames near-square or 6×4.5 / 6×6 / 6×9. Some EEPA strips are perforated — the film decides, not the collection prefix.

image_area per frame + sprockets on every clearly visible hole. Never slide_mount.

• One 4-point rectangle per frame, tilted with the strip.
• Soft or rounded exposure edges → straight lines through the rounding. Still 4 points.
• Holder mask cuts a frame → treat like a scan edge: end at visibility threshold, stay rectangular.
• Perforations: box every clearly visible hole; slivers mostly hidden by the holder are skipped.
• Light spill / white glow around the holder → never labeled.

• A shape around the whole illuminated strip — no label exists for the strip.
• slide_mount anywhere on a strip — there is no mount on strips.
• Skipping sprockets because "this batch is roll film" — box them wherever the holes actually show.
• Multi-point polygons tracing rounded exposure edges.

Single rigid plate. Two looks in the corpus: (a) exposure fills the whole plate to its edge; (b) plate taped into a black paper/tape mask sitting on the light table.

image_area only.

• Full-bleed plate: image_area = the exposed plate area. Rounded plate corners → straight 4-point rectangle through the rounding.
• Taped / masked plate: image_area = the exposed image inside the tape opening. Tape occlusion works like a carrier: follow the visible exposure edge; don't guess under the tape.
• White surround = light table. Black tape/mask = digitization equipment → never labeled (no mount label on plates).
• Emulsion damage, flaking, black corners → stay inside the rectangle, straight edges through.

• Labeling the tape/mask as slide_mount — plates never get a mount label.
• Tracing chipped emulsion or tape wrinkles with extra points.
• Labeling the glass edge instead of the exposure edge.

Single large negative/positive sheet, often with corner notch codes. Exposed area shaped by the film holder.

image_area only — the one material where it may be non-rectangular.

• Trace the exposed-area edge — the film-holder opening shape. Clipped corners or irregular opening → follow it.
• Clean rectangular exposure → clean 4-point rectangle.
• Picture-of-a-picture is common here: label the film exposure (middle), never the print/painting inside, never the physical sheet edge (outer).

• Applying the non-rectangular exception to strips or plates — sheet film only.
• Labeling the physical sheet edge instead of the exposed area.