Need help scanning on Imacon 343

[Larry Kellogg]

Hello,
I scan my 4x5 shots in two pieces on the Imacon 343 and then stitch them together. I'm having trouble scanning all of the shadow and highlights for this shot:



I can't seem to come up with the correct scan settings in order to get detail in the plants. I have tried increasing the shadow depth but it does not seem to help and lightens the highlights too much. I have set the range to 0-255 and tried to find a midpoint that brings in all the details in the shadow areas, but that does not seem to do it. I tried curves without luck. I am scanning 16 bit gray scale.

Here is the detail I want out of the plants:



Obviously, there is a large range of tones between the shadows and the highlights in this picture. I could try to put together a picture from a more detailed scan of the plants but would like to do this with just one scan, if possible.

Any ideas?

[cjheyliger]

Larry,

I have a similar workflow and have had the best luck scanning tricky black and white negatives as positives. For some reason this gives you a lot more information in the histogram - particularly in the shadows. After scanning I simply stitch, and invert the file in photoshop. Hope this helps!

[Peter De Smidt]

That method will allow you to pick the best channel to make the BW image out of. Often it's the green channel.

[Larry Kellogg]

Thanks! Ah, yes, I remember reading on Ken Lee's site that the green channel is often the one that has the most information. It seems funny that I can scan the plants specifically with 16 bit grayscale and get the shadow detail but that I just can't seem to come up with a global setting that captures both the shadows and the highlights.

I will report back.

[rich815]

Scan twice. Once for higher tones, once for the shadows. Overlay higher key one over shadow detail one in PS, then "brush" back in the shadow detail areas.

[Larry Kellogg]

Rich,
Yes, I could go the HDR route. Unfortunately, for me, it would mean scanning four times, and merging two sets of files. If I get access to a high quality flatbed scanner then I will try scanning twice.

Ok, here is another attempt. This time, I scanned as RGB Standard, Inverted, used the Green channel, and did a little tweaking with Curves and Levels in Photoshop. There is now a lot more detail in the plants and in the pots on the window sill, so that's good. The church gets pushed up the scale some and is grayer. Thoughts?

[onnect17]

Scan in color as a positive, in RAW format.
Disable all the "auto" features.
Increase the "Adaptive Lighting" as far as you can without clipping the high values.
In PS, invert the image, pick one of the color channels and change gamma until you're happy with it.

You can also close fill the window in the holder with a piece of the same emulsion you are scanning.

[Larry Kellogg]

Scan in color as a positive, in RAW format.
Disable all the "auto" features.
Increase the "Adaptive Lighting" as far as you can without clipping the high values.
In PS, invert the image, pick one of the color channels and change gamma until you're happy with it.

You can also close fill the window in the holder with a piece of the same emulsion you are scanning.

Thanks. Do you mean 3F format? I'm not sure where to set raw. Where is the "Adaptive Lighting" setting? Do you mean "Shadow Detail"? The close fill idea is an interesting one.

I'm still not happy with it and will probably try multiple scans HDR-style. I want more black in that band around the church tower and can't seem to get this in one scan without losing detail in the plants when I adjust it.

[onnect17]

Thanks. Do you mean 3F format? I'm not sure where to set raw. Where is the "Adaptive Lighting" setting? Do you mean "Shadow Detail"? The close fill idea is an interesting one.

I'm still not happy with it and will probably try multiple scans HDR-style. I want more black in that band around the church tower and can't seem to get this in one scan without losing detail in the plants when I adjust it.

Yes, 3f. I'm guessing you're using FlexColor on a PC. I'm not familiar with the Mac enviroment.
Avoid any processing in Flexcolor. 32 bits in PS is better.

[Larry Kellogg]

Yes, 3f. I'm guessing you're using FlexColor on a PC. I'm not familiar with the Mac enviroment.
Avoid any processing in Flexcolor. 32 bits in PS is better.

Thanks for the information, I'll check it out. I see you set up your own setting for Black+White. Yes, I am using FlexColor, version 4.8.13. My Setup window looks like this:



If I recall correctly, I still have to convert 3F to TIFF, is that correct? I tried working with 3F files once but I remember that they were huge. I will try your suggestion and see what I get from a scan.