Lines from developing, attempting to remove in PS after drum scanning

[Michael Gaillard]

Hello everyone… attached is an image that I am in the midst of working on after having drum scanned from an 8x10 neg. As you can probably see at a glance, there are lines that remain from the development of this neg that I would like to get rid of and still be able to use the image. If you can't see them initially, look in the sky, primarily on the left and closer to the horizon. In the past I have dealt with similar situations when the lines were dominant in a single channel, but in this case, they are equally present in the channels.

This, as well as pesky mottling, is something that seems to happen primarily when the negative is pretty dense as a result of longer exposures (around a minute or more). I probably should have just exposed separate negs, one for the highlights and one for the shadows, but I didn't, and now I'm faced with this issue.

Has anyone found a way to address such an issue without causing too much damage? I feel as though the softness of the sky does allow for a bit of wiggle room to get rid of them safely.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[bomzi]

I've had exactly the same banding issues on a bunch of 4x5 Portra 400 negatives. The negs were processed at LTI Lightside. Apparently, the dip and dunk process method can sometimes lead to banding in areas of continuous tone. Is this how you have processed the negs?

I initially scanned the negs on a Flextight X5 but then switched to a X1 which is lower in resolution. Basically, the X5 seemed to pull too much detail out of the scan along with every single flaw. The X1 results were better for me because the file were easier to work with as the banding was less pronounced.

As my issues were confined to areas of blue sky, I've mostly tried to remove black from the Blue and Cyan channels using Selective Color. And I've been trying to clone stamp my way out of the woods with varying success.

These video tutorials were also helpful:
http://www.diyphotography.net/three-...io+Lighting%29

Good luck!

Randhir

[Kirk Gittings]

I've had exactly the same banding issues on a bunch of 4x5 Portra 400 negatives. The negs were processed at LTI Lightside. Apparently, the dip and dunk process method can sometimes lead to banding in areas of continuous tone. Is this how you have processed the negs?

I initially scanned the negs on a Flextight X5 but then switched to a X1 which is lower in resolution. Basically, the X5 seemed to pull too much detail out of the scan along with every single flaw. The X1 results were better for me because the file were easier to work with as the banding was less pronounced.

As my issues were confined to areas of blue sky, I've mostly tried to remove black from the Blue and Cyan channels using Selective Color. And I've been trying to clone stamp my way out of the woods with varying success.

These video tutorials were also helpful:
http://www.diyphotography.net/three-...io+Lighting%29

Good luck!

Randhir

As I shot maybe 15k 4x5 color negs over 25 years when I was shooting film commercially, I find this statement odd. All of my color negs were developed in a d&d and never saw banding.

[Kirk Gittings]

I've had exactly the same banding issues on a bunch of 4x5 Portra 400 negatives. The negs were processed at LTI Lightside. Apparently, the dip and dunk process method can sometimes lead to banding in areas of continuous tone. Is this how you have processed the negs?

I initially scanned the negs on a Flextight X5 but then switched to a X1 which is lower in resolution. Basically, the X5 seemed to pull too much detail out of the scan along with every single flaw. The X1 results were better for me because the file were easier to work with as the banding was less pronounced.

As my issues were confined to areas of blue sky, I've mostly tried to remove black from the Blue and Cyan channels using Selective Color. And I've been trying to clone stamp my way out of the woods with varying success.

These video tutorials were also helpful:
http://www.diyphotography.net/three-...io+Lighting%29

Good luck!

Randhir

As I shot maybe 15k 4x5 color negs over 25 years when I was shooting film commercially, I find this statement odd. All of my color negs were developed in a d&d and never saw banding.

[bomzi]

As I shot maybe 15k 4x5 color negs over 25 years when I was shooting film commercially, I find this statement odd. All of my color negs were developed in a d&d and never saw banding.

I was surprised to see the lines myself but the guys at LTI confirmed that this can happen and has happened before. Not sure what to add beyond that.

Their slower more expensive dip and dunk process is specifically designed to combat this kind of banding.