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Scanning negatives - that colour cast trick

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stroker1
  • Start date Start date

Alistair: Depends also on the negatives. What do you mean by an adapter?

Wendy: to do slides or negatives, the scanner must be able to have the light pass through the film. This is called "Transparancy" mode. When you put a photograph, document, leaf or anything on the glass (do place some sheet of acetate on the glass when you experiment!) the light has to reflect from the surface unto the CCD (Charged Coupled Device). Therefore this is called "Reflective" mode. A transparant object cannot be scanned in reflective Mode.

If you have, for example, a digital camera now, but you also have a collection of slides or negatives that you took with a normal camera, then you can also go to your photography merchant and ask to have the negatives or slide put unto a KodakCD. This will be cheaper than buying a scanner (here, we pay some $50 for 100 slides on a KodakCD). Don't forget that these Kodak images have a colour space that is best viewed in LAB mode. Yet, if you're still taking pics on film, you may consider buying a scanner.
 
:D ;) Thanks for the scanning tip, Erik! Duh... I never thought of that... [confused] after all, it was late in the day (hmm...what other excuses can I come up with?)... ;\

Yes, putting old negs onto a KodakCD is a great idea. All my negs are "old" as I haven't shot with film in at least five years! Sooooooo.... maybe I won't be running out to buy a new scanner afterall! [excited]

[shhh] I still want to nail that "negative to positive" technique and will do some playing today!
 
neg scanning

We have been scanning 2 1/4 negs for about 4 years straight..like 30 hours a week. We use the Minolta Dimage which unfortunately does not work with Silver Fast...any other Sftwares compatible? Really like the controls with Silver Fast..just cannot use as a Twain to import into PS.

Scanning Steps:
1) scan B&W RGB at max resolution 1128--
2)convert to 16 bit per in PS7..
3)then we start layering
4)working on each colour. we mainly use curves --starting with a practical zone system>>> i.e highlights first,etc (sometimes to Selective Color to work on difficult low areas )
5)Channel Mixer... we check monochrome
6)Hue/Sat... we completely remove all saturation--just to be sure of no colour
7)USM
8)Flatten/ convert back to 8 bit Tiff (although saved at different intravels during the process)
9)flash transferred to our lab as a desaturated RGB 30mb + Jpeg for a 11 X 11 Duralife {100 year guarantee}
10) Deliver to Galleries


Any steps that could be eliminated or further explored??

C JoGO


Is that secret spot , by chance, Avebury or on the Brittany Coast
 
:D yes, a very impressive photo, cjogo! :righton: I'm curious... is this an original or a reconstruction from neg?

I confess, this whole topic of scanning negatives is much more complicated than what I first assumed. [confused] Having done a little experimentation on my own, I was then led to do a little research on the net and it has become obvious that (if I'm going to have any success in this area) I will need to acquire a good scanning software program, like Silver Fast. I won't give up on this project... ;)
 
scanning

I have spent many of months, the last 30 years, traveling...the last 10 has been concentrated on East Europe. I spent a summer in Latvia with a stop in Moscow in the 80's..http://www.moscow-taxi.com/museums/memorial-museum-cosmonautics.html
a monument to the first sputnik in space. Actually the first man on the moon Armstrong has this image on his study wall, as a gift of mine.
Kids actually slide down this in the winter months,,at a considerable risk.

My website has a few more Jpegs.>>>unfortunatley, without Dsl or similar --a little slow to load. The images were converted from 30-60mb Tiffs to 4-500k jpegs .


Glad you like them...

THIS IMAGE IS TAKEN FROM THE BASE OF THE MONUMENT


http://fp2k.redshift.com/cjogo/c__joseph_gough.htm[/url]
 
Nice one too cjogo and since I photograph a lot myself I appreciate it that you want to share it with us :righton:
 
scanning

Probably the most disheartening discovery about scanning negatives...especially B&W........the film was not manufactured to scan. The fine grain film and meticulous processing I maintained, does not lend itself to the detailed film scanner. Ultra -fine grain has become like poorly processed TRI-x ---under the film scanner. The new Portra Kodak (C41) lends itself, much better. Kodak has supplied a special layer.

Maybe, if in future, the Minolta product we use----will allow access to Silver Fast.---then we can obtain much better results>>>>> I have heard and read great reviews about this software. So now we must be content with very pain-staking methods,,,,trying to fool the scanner on where to focus on a plane ,,,,very crucial adjustments on USM (always the last stage!),,,noise/specks and gaussian methods applied in the landscape open skies,,,,, working with the RGB curves to maximize contrast in just the right areas,etc......


~~~GLAD YOU LIKE THE IMAGES GAUSSIAN ~~~~

Here is Paris La Defense 1994
 
Fabulous photos cjogo !!! :righton: Thanks for sharing! ;)
 
I have read about this problem more than once. I also have read that the grain is one of the disadvantages of a merciless scanner. Every little detail is rendered as it is on the negative/slide, and that does lead to visual problems.
Flatbed scanners don't have this problem as the interpolation is different. Without modules, ie direct on the glass, results can be visibly better in the dark shadows.

Question is to find the best balance between extreme quality and visual beauty...like in some movies in which the background noise is so loud that you can't understand anymore what they are saying. Realistic, yes, but does it convey the essential message?

About the "secret" spot: it is clearly in Britanny (Bretagne, France), but lost in the Ar Goat (the woodlands). I love Britanny...

Whoops: forgot to say that you do have a good sense of composition, and your greysscale is near to perfect. great work (I did visit your site more than once).

Also this: a book I wouldn't do without is John Paul Caponigro's Adobe Photoshop Masterclass. (Adobe Press). Not for version 6,7 or any, simply timeless communication by what I call a Master.

visit www.johnpaulcaponigro.com
 
Was displayed in the Carmel gallery, along side Dad Caponigro. John has a workshop coming-up in the near future---out West-Carmel~~~~will see about attending. I have found that the flatbed {Epson 2450}scanning>>flat on the glass>>>scanned as a transparency , may lend itself to a better finale product on B&W. The 2450 also allows SilverFast and VueScan software for Twain~~~~~~~~~The Minolta Pro is just too sharp on that grain...So I'll further post results, from my experiences.. ------thanks kindly for all the support

this is a Praha cemetery--we spend a great deal of time in East Europe Cemeteries......the historical statues are wonderful,,,and we have less chance of "street" problems--this was taken with a special Super Wide Hasselblad
 
Beautiful image cjogo! :righton:

Such beautiful and historic art is to be found in the most unlikely places...
 
ERIC will try to scan a few from Bretnage of the "monumental rocks"

cjogo
 
Glad you like them--

this was a 35mm ASA 1600 B&W --scanned as a transparency @ 2850 and corrections in PS 7~~~~~~~Cracow @ midnight
 
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