Scanning to Gallery

Template:
I have a ScanMaker 6100 with no 4x5 template. Must have missed the absence of this feature. I could just make a 4x5 template: OPINIONS OR TRICKS you guys might have?
SilverFast:
I’m the guy that has been screwing up my attempts to scan. Installed PhotoShop2 and just found SiverFast. The scanner will probably work better now (once I get it figured out).
Neg or Print:
A fellow Apuger advised for me to quit scanning prints that a neg produces a better image?

Can't tell you about your ScanMaker or anything relative to SilverFast, but I find it easier to get a scan that accurately represents the print by scanning the (wait for it...) print. Most modern scanners can scan a reflective original with all settings on automatic and give a good scan, a little tweaking of levels to get the overall brightness right and it's ready to resize and upload. Scanning a B&W negative carries a relatively steep learning curve (I'm still learning better ways to do it, and I've been scanning my negatives for about 2.5 years).

Also, if you need to do any dodging or burning, I find those a lot easier to get right on the print, once, and then scan the print, rather than fight with Photoshop or GIMP to get the same appearance in a negative scan. Just my opinion, of course, but a few months ago I pulled all the negative scans out of my APUG portfolio, leaving only print scans...

I only scan the print - sometimes in two passes as I usually print on 12x16. To do this I disable all the scanner's "auto adjust" options that alter the scan and disable sharpening etc. If you allow the scanner to auto adjust, the two scans will not match for contrast, brightness, colour, etc. It will also most likely auto-adjust to some levels that are not suitable for your use.

I then use an image editing program to adjust brightness & contrast to try and match the print as close as I can (but I usually lose some highlight detail as I don't try to be too clever with the editing program). Before finally sharpening I re-size to APUG's allowed height/width - that way I can see how much sharpening is too much... I always need to sharpen. I guess it's because of the limited number of pixels available on a screen.

Have fun, Bob.

On silverfast - I don't know if you have SE or Ai, it's most likely to be SE but scan at max bits (48 if you can, but that's with Ai only) and RGB and as high a resolution as is practical- this will preserve most tonal detail.
If you're scanning 4x5 negs, though, this will initially give you a very big file & will take some time - but will give you a better result in the end when you downsize, first to make a smaller file, and then through 'save for web' (because you can't go directly to save for web from a very large file). But scanning prints may be easier and less time consuming and may be quite satisfactory, I agree with Donald there's a steep learning curve. Once you've worked out the tools, in the scanner software and in photoshop (plus any plug-ins you may have!) I think it's easier to work from the neg.

When scanning I turn off all auto settings including sharpness, (add that if necessary to your finished file last thing with unsharp mask or similar), adjust histogram/exposure to allow for a low-contrast scan. Better to boost it up again in photoshop than lose shadow/highlight detail in the scan - the hardest thing to get right digitally is highlight detail, so careful to make sure these arent blown in the neg or scan.

p.s. see also this thread: scanning negatives

Good luck
cate