[chumeister]

I have scanned some film negatives in - and want a quick way with Photoshop 6 - to make them into positive images. Or do I need another program?

thanks,
andrew

[godzookie2k]

Apple/Command- i

(inverse)

<small>[ 06-03-2002, 07:56 AM: Message edited by: godzookie2k ]</small>

[bluedog]

Just a note, the scan of a negative may or may not come out well. Hopefully you have a good scanner. Some low-end consumer scanners are 'calibrated' to scan photos well and don't really have the gamut to scan an inverted image and get all the details (not to mention the negative is fairly small item).

What I mean by calibrated, it their sensitivity is set for specific values that are available in the 'real world' and not great at picking up just any details. Inverted images are way out of the ranges of many low-end scanners.

If you get a decent image with an 'invert' consider yourself lucky, or you spent a decent amount on a good scanner. I've gotten good scans from a Linotype/Hell (whatever they're called nowadays) Sapphire and it gave decent results. All other scanners I've tried were merely 'ok'.

The advice for Command/Apple-i is the easiest way to do it. Good luck.

<small>[ 06-03-2002, 02:11 PM: Message edited by: bluedog ]</small>

[godzookie2k]

Note: you will most likely spend some time in the levels pallet after that inverse.

Second Note: If the scans are for anything important, send em out to be drum scanned.

[buchrob]

Hitting command-I will not do the trick at all.

Negative film has an orange mask in the base emulsion. Scanning and inverting the image will end up making a big mess of everything.

All high end and some mid-range scanners come with software that will deal in some way with this mask. The really professional set-ups come with about a dozen tables covering all of the major neg films such as Agfa, Fuji and Kodak.

If these pictures are of any importance to you, send them out to a service that can at least give you Photo CD quality, or check out scanners and software that come with color tables for negatives.

[godzookie2k]

Ahhh yes, buchrob. Yer right. Its been some time since I've handled film, was thinking black and whites. A consumer level transparency adapter/slide scanner will *work* but as with prints, sending em out will yield better results.

[art_director]

I have yet to see a consumer grade scanner that scans negs with any degree of quality. Your best bet is to have them spun on a drum as has been suggested here.

[crh]

"I have yet to see a consumer grade scanner that scans negs with any degree of quality. Your best bet is to have them spun on a drum as has been suggested here."

Well, AD, I have already seen several, but they pretty much straddle the consumer/midrange market. True, they are not quite Howtek or Crosfield quality, but yield surprisngly good results to someone with the skill in P-shop and ColorSync to pull everything out of the images, both tonally and colorwise.

The SprintScan Plus (36 bit), and especially the Polaroid SprintScan 4000 (and the 4000 Plus), when used with the LaserSoft Silverfast Ai (P-shop plugins), will yield the kind of printed images that will fool some very experienced eyes (and 10x loupes), but to do it one really needs to expend some effort before, during, and after the scan if the best results are to be obtained.

Suffice it to say that desktop scanning for under $2k is never going to equal drum scans. But the results get a lot closer than most experienced folks would ever expect, in the right hands.
"Fast, cheap, or good- pick two": I believe is the Designer's credo. In this case, 'cheap and good' are indeed possible.

-crh

<small>[ 06-05-2002, 10:56 PM: Message edited by: crh ]</small>

[godzookie2k]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Originally posted by crh:
<strong>"Fast, cheap, or good- pick two": I believe is the Designer's credo.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">ahahahahhahaha too true!

nick

[bluedog]

Sometimes when you work for long, you take for credit the abilities of the hardware you have. Its been so long since I've scanned a color negative and instead using 4x6 or the smaller 2x2 transparencies.

Thanks all for reminding meabout the emulsion. With skill, knowledge and experience you can do anything.

[chumeister]

I did know about the Command-I option, which as rightly pointed out doesn't work.
I want something quick and nasty but looks ok - and don't want to go down the drum scanner option.

Is it just a case of just playing with levels - or is there a quicker way of changing a scanned photo negative into something that looks ok as a positive.

[buchrob]

Quick and nasty, and who cares if there's blood on the carpet? Brush off a little rust at the salvage yard and it's as good as new?

Scan your negative image and include the entire frame including some of the orange frame around the picture ("overmask"). This was not exposed and will serve as your "black" point. But since we are talking negative film, this is really your "white" point before you invert. If you have the luxury of a picture where something was obviously white, like a cloud, then we're away to the races.

Open the levels tool in Photoshop with a blank document open. Double-click on the white point eyedropper because the default level of 0 0 0 will blow out all of your highlight detail. Substitute 4 2 2 0 as default CMYK levels for white and click OK. Similarly, plug in the values of 63 52 52 100 for the black point and click OK.

Now open your scan and re-open the levels tool (Cmd-L). Click on the white eyedropper and select the orange overmask. Click on the black eyedropper and select the visibly darkest part of the image on screen (the clouds). Click OK and then invert.

Do a few experiments with this system, and when you are happy with your results you can save the levels manipulation as a table that you can load for other less obvious photos.

You will probably find that scans from negs are a lot more grainly and flat comared to regular chromes, but that's just a characteristic of the film you will have to live with. Just don't go nuts with the contrast and brightness controls.

Your mileage will certainly vary, but we all wish you a safe trip.