It's like Oren said: you shouldn't limit your possibilities of using that scanned file right in the scanning stage. So: no sharpening, no grain supressing (sometimes, the two together increase the appearance of grain) and no curves manipulation (the film already has a film curve). On the other hand, it makes sense to use the whole bit depth the scanner can produce by setting black and white points excactly.
As a general rule Photoshop. And experiment, experiment, and experiment. I have found that failure teaches most. I am most familar with failure.
And just to add: produce your scans and save them at 16 bits/channel in order to obtain as much color/tonal resolution as possible before you make adjustments in PS - this will give you as much headroom as possible, which is important.Originally Posted by phaedrus
By coincidence this same topic was discussed recently on the ScanHi-End forum on Yahoo. There are some real experts on that forum who use a variety of drum and high end flatbed scanners. And guess what? They also disagree on the subject. Some, citing evidence that the proprietary software of certain scanners allows for more control, recommend correcting the image in the pre-scan as much as possible. Others recommend the raw scan approach and then do all of the corrections in Photoshop.
My own approach is to apply as many non-destructive corrections as possible in the pre-scan, but leave final corrections that may be destructive for Photoshop.I apply curves to adjust overall contrast and correct for color in the pre-scan, but take care to avoid clipping any of the shadow or highlight detail.
If possible always scan in high bit and keep the file in high bit through all of the corrections. The scanner I use for LF film, an EverSmart Pro, makes the analog to digital conversion in high bit, but then allows saves only in 8 bit. With this scanner it obviously makes sense to do everything possible in the pre-scan in order to take advantage of the high bit conversion of data from analog to digital. With this scanner my work flow is to correct as much as possible in the pre-scan, scan in RGB, and when the file is in Photoshop immediately covert from 8 bit to 16 bit. This work flow allows about the same amount of corrections in Photoshop without posterizing as with a 16 bit grayscale file.
Sandy King
Many thanks for your comments and thoughtful advice.
I now feel more comfortable that the raw scan approach with minimal processing is a good basis for further work and experimentation.
Oren, my mistake on the Ciba print. The print from the negative I mentioned was made on Kodak Professional Paper, according to the markings on the back not on Cibachrome paper which as you point out was for making prints from slides.
Cesare
It's important to note, as evidenced in Sandy's post, that this decision is often based on the particulars of one's hardware/software. The are no blanket rules that apply to every situation. I am not thrilled with Silverfast's negafix, so with negs I bring them in raw into Photoshop to work, in hi bit.
Also, for trannies, color management applies and a good input profile can make life much easier. However, it only applies to the setting with which it was made, so again it's best to make edits in PS after conversion to a perceptually uniform nice big working space, leaving the scanner settings locked down to those used for the profile.
Tyler
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks