MorseBlog

The other day I watched a video about scanning black and white negatives with Vuescan software. This is the same SW I use but the video had a very different workflow form mine. While I think it probably works for the author I felt that there was a simpler more flexible workflow that I have evolved over time. I thought perhaps I should document my approach and the rationale behind it. These techniques also apply to color negative and positive film as well.  The basis for the workflow I show here is that the objective is to avoid the scanner doing any manipulations on the scan at all. I just want pixels. I have used Vuescan for years and have played with all kinds of the settings trying to get the right contrast, black points, white points, and colors. It has always been frustrating and the results not always satisfactory or consistent.  Vuescan and most other scanning SW aim by default to make it easier to scan large numbers of slides or negativ...

 Introduction My recent set of 4x5 color images have shown up some inattention I have had in my color scanning workflow. I first noticed it when I had a print made from Peak Imaging. The print looked noticeably darker with more muted color than the screen image.  I had asked the lab not to correct the image where a technician will try and remove color casts and get good contrast and color balance. I wanted to try and have more control over the print. (The lab corrected images in the past I have been pleased with.) The next thing I noticed was the same image posted to this blog and to Flickr did not reflect the same quality I saw on the same monitor when rendered on the PC. In other words the image rendered through a browser appeared differently than the image when rendered on the PC either in the photo viewing application or Photoshop Elements etc.   Here is an example of the the screen grab of two images that are in all ways identical expect one. The image on the ri...