----- Original Message -----
From: "Walt Wayman" <hiwayman@xxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 10:13 AM
Subject: [OM] Re: Okay, let's talk about film ........
> That, and I can look at a slide and tell instantly what it's all about. I
can come pretty close
> with a B&W negative, but I usually can't tell diddly about a color
negative. Though I seldom > work with them, on the few occasions I have,
more than once I've had to scan two or three > negatives to find the one I
really wanted. Big waste of time. With slides, it's not a question.
I definitely agree here. I know some people say that colour negs scan better
because you can get a better dynamic range but I just find it too difficult
to gauge how the scan should look because I can't evaluate how it compares
to the neg. With slides you can look at the slide and see how closely you've
matched it. With B&W, I don't have the same problem because you're usually
just trying to get the black and white points set properly and then adjust
the midtones as needed to get the look you want. You don't have to worry
about getting the colour accurate as well. Usually my process with B&W is
scan it without inverting so I get a negative on my screen. I then set the
white point in levels to where I start seeing information in the historgram.
Because I'm working with a negative this is actually changing what the black
point will be. I find it easier to evaluate the shadow detail when it's a
negative as the shadows blow out to white. I then clean up an dust spots and
scratches because at this point they show up black and I find them easier to
spot than after I've inverted the image to a positive. After the cleanup, I
invert the image to a positive. I again go into levels and adjust the white
point (which is actually the white point now that I'm working with a
positive image). After that, I adjust the midtones as needed to get overall
look I want. Then I do any other work (usually just some sharpening) on the
image. I find that lets me get the full range of tones from the image and
the overall tonal value I want for the image. I suppose if I had a more
complex situation I might have to use curves instead to get everything
looking right but I find I'm usually fine with just using levels to set the
black, white, and mid points.
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