The Illustrated Book on Scanning

[GerardK]

I'm going to risk annoying anyone that I'm trying to sell something. Warning: I'm selling something.

But it is something I think may be of use to anyone who still struggles with scanning color negatives and transparencies. I spent hundreds of hours trying to find a way to scan analogue film without having the scanning software interpreting what my images should look like, or clipping highlights and shadows. It's been a frustrating experience, but I've now developed what I think is a good way to scan an image just once. This method extracts all detail from the film, without interpreting the data, while retaining all information in shadow areas as well as highlights.

The resulting basic scan contains all relevant data, which you can subsequently process to taste without having to re-scan the image. The workflow requires a desktop flatbed or film scanner, Photoshop CS or later, VueScan or Silverfast, and the Photoshop plug-in ColorPerfect.

"The Illustrated Book on Scanning" by Gerard Kingma is available from Amazon.com, in paperback and e-book editions at the following link
Dead Link Removed

The workflow description includes a brief primer on color management, because I think that's an essential step. Feel free to ask any question, I hope I can help.

 

[wiedzmin]

I purchased kindle version (using it on nook tablet). It shows step by step, process (illustrated by screenshots) based on his testing and experience including ColorPerfect plug-in (which I use personally but sadly is not very well known).
Over a year ago I spent hours to figure out how to use vuescan + PS + ColorPerfect. Here you have it all in one place in easy to understand form. Well worth the price. Only 9.99 for kindle version and you can ask author questions.

 

[GerardK]

Thank you very much for your enthusiasm, Wiedzmin. Much appreciated! I always try to help, so please contact me with any questions you might have.

Best regards, Gerard Kingma

 

[Rudeofus]

How useful is this book if you don't use Photoshop? PS doesn't run on linux, and in light of recent changes to PS licensing its amateur use may descrease greatly even for Win/Mac users ...

 

[GerardK]

You have a point, Rudeofus. I published this guide before the current hullabaloo over Photoshop Cloud hit our world. My method relies heavily on ColorPerfect, which is a Photoshop plug-in. However, I copied this from the ColorPerfect website:

>>>
Photoshop Elements: ColorPerfect will work with Photoshop Elements and has been used with PC versions 3 through 8. It may work with other versions and with Mac versions. Since Photoshop Elements is often sold as part of a package with a scanner, a digital camera, or a digitizer, this can be an inexpensive alternative for persons who do not already own a copy of Photoshop. On the downside, users should be aware that setting up to work with selections is not as convenient in Photoshop Elements as in full Photoshop. On the upside, the plug-ins provide Photoshop Elements with a lot of 16-bit/channel functionality that it does not have otherwise.
<<<

Also, the website mentions that PS CS2 is available as a free download from Adobe and it mentions a package called PhotoLine. I have not tried this, so please check for yourself. I have looked at Elements in the past, and was pretty impressed with what Elements as from version 7 has to offer, considering its price point compared to PS CS. So if anybody knows how well ColorPerfect integrates with PS Elements, please post here. By the way, I have no experience with Linux whatsoever.

 

[pschwart]

I was under the impression that ColorPerfect works only with RGB images and does not support working directly with monochrome scans. Is your book only about scanning color?

 

[wiedzmin]

@pschwartz

I will let author reply regarding content of his book.

Please see here regarding ColorPerfect and B/W.

Why use ColorNeg? / ColorNeg for Monochromes - ColorNeg - Your RAW converter for negative scans

and

Virtual Grades / ColorNeg for Monochromes - ColorNeg - Your RAW converter for negative scans

 

[pschwart]

Thanks, but this adds to the confusion. There are separate web sites for ColorNeg and ColorPerfect. I have yet read all the pages, but it sounds like they do not have the same functionality. From the ColorPerfect web site:
Some users were disappointed that ColorPerfect would not work directly with B&W negatives (monochrome) like the older ColorNeg plug-in did. The ability to work directly on monochrome images and produce monochrome results was added in Version 1.04. The ColorPerfect engine is very colorcentric, so internally the monochrome image is treated as RGB with color controls intact and even though the final result will be monochrome, the user is able to see in the preview if any beneficial toning would be obtained from completely treating the image as color.

Sounds like I will have to install both plug-ins and take them for a test drive.

@pschwartz

I will let author reply regarding content of his book.

Please see here regarding ColorPerfect and B/W.

Why use ColorNeg? / ColorNeg for Monochromes - ColorNeg - Your RAW converter for negative scans

and

Virtual Grades / ColorNeg for Monochromes - ColorNeg - Your RAW converter for negative scans

 

[GerardK]

ColorPerfect and B/W




Since I published 'The Illustrated Guide to to Film Scanning', a number of people have asked me if the method would work for B/W. So I went into the attic and dug up and old roll of Kodak Tmax that I'd tortured through a battered Rolleiflex many years ago. It's poorly exposed (this particular frame is underexposed) and questionably developed, but hey, there it is.

The scanning method I advocate in the guide, is based on the assumption that it doesn't really matter what the chemical contents are of the particular piece of celluloid that you feed your scanner. You make a kind of snapshot of the film, correct it for scanner behavior with a dedicated IT8 calibration, make a linear file and process that in ColorPerfect. So for this B/W, I followed the exact same procedure as for negative film described in the guide. The only difference is, digital ICE doesn't work with B/W, but I suppose B/W photographers know this already. In the color workflow, I converted from the scanner profile to ProPhotoRGB, to work in the largest possible workspace. After that I simply changed the mode to Greyscale and there you are, you've got a 16bit B/W file that contains all highlight and shadow information that's present in the film. By definition it's therefore rather bland, see the unprocessed file above, but you now can (and should) apply your usual Photoshop skullduggery to taste, to make the image come to life. I will leave that to the true B/W photographers among you. I really appreciate a good B/W, but it's just never become my thing.

Once more, here's the link to the guide on Amazon:

Dead Link Removed

Please post your own experiences here. I will try to help out where I can.

Best regards, Gerard Kingma

 

[Alan Klein]

I checked it out on Amazon. I was disappointed that only a few pages were accessible to see what the book is about. I might be more interested if you added sample pages to see. The ones you show don't tell me enough about what's in the book.

 

[wiedzmin]

current version of ColorPerfect is 2.10, ColorPerfect replaces ColorNeg and the earlier C F Systems plug-ins C F Systems Innovations in Sight and Sound - Photoshop plug-ins page / http://www.c-f-systems.com/Docs/ColorPerfectPCNotes.html

I started using ColorPerfect (formerly ColorNeg) because I wanted to preserve natural film look for color and b/w. I did not want to play with curves, level adjustments in PS to invert negatives and tell everyone around - those are just "straight scans"
If I would like digital look, I would use DSLR - less hassle etc. I'm not trying to mimic look of digital files. I wanted to get that "organic" look of darkroom prints. In my personal opinion and based on my personal experience ColorPerfect gives more natural look of the film. Again this is my opinion only.

You are right it is best to download demo and test it but take some time and read this at least <b>ColorPerfect</b> via the Help System for me it was overwhelming first a little bit. That's why I like the straightforward step by step approach presented in The Illustrated Book on Scanning despite that I use somehow different workflow - I try to do as much as possible in ColorPerfect.

There is also Flickr group Flickr: ColorPerfect (ColorNeg) User Group discussion topics

Thanks, but this adds to the confusion. There are separate web sites for ColorNeg and ColorPerfect. I have yet read all the pages, but it sounds like they do not have the same functionality. From the ColorPerfect web site:
Some users were disappointed that ColorPerfect would not work directly with B&W negatives (monochrome) like the older ColorNeg plug-in did. The ability to work directly on monochrome images and produce monochrome results was added in Version 1.04. The ColorPerfect engine is very colorcentric, so internally the monochrome image is treated as RGB with color controls intact and even though the final result will be monochrome, the user is able to see in the preview if any beneficial toning would be obtained from completely treating the image as color.

Sounds like I will have to install both plug-ins and take them for a test drive.

 

[GerardK]

I checked it out on Amazon. I was disappointed that only a few pages were accessible to see what the book is about. I might be more interested if you added sample pages to see. The ones you show don't tell me enough about what's in the book.

Dear Alan,

I'm sorry to disappoint, that's obviously not my intention. Did you click on the "Surprise me" button in the preview area? It will show you more pages than just the first pages and covers.

The guide describes in an easy to follow step by step way how you get the best (in my opinion, based on hundreds of hours of scanning experience) out of your negative and positive film with a desktop scanner (flatbed or film), using SilverFast or Vuescan to drive the scanner. I found it works best if you calibrate the scanner with an IT8 target. Then you make a linear file, which is a kind of unprocessed RAW file, which must be interpreted in Photoshop with the plug-in Colorperfect. This gives you a basic scan that contains all relevant data in the highlights and shadow areas. None of the data is clipped. There is no subjective interpretation on how the file should look. Actually, the image will probably be quite flat and boring. You then process the 16bit image to taste with a layer-based workflow in Photoshop, which gives you the advantage that you can always go back to your edits in the layers if a day or so later you want to adjust the contrast, hue, saturation and brightness some more, locally or globally (by brushing certain areas in or out in the layer mask, you can make local edits (which is something you can't do in the ColorPerfect dialogue, so that's way I prefer to work in layers). Every step is illustrated with screen shots.

I hope this gives you a better impression of what the book is about. I always try to help where I can, just post here or send me a private message. Best of luck,

Best regards, Gerard Kingma

 

[Alan Klein]

Gerard. Only a few pages seem to come up. Not enough to give a good feeling of what's in the book. Maybe you can include showing the Table of Contents and Index sections. Also, some more page selections inside of the book too. I'm only trying to be helpful. I'd like to see you have a lot of success with the book. Certainly I struggled with scanning plenty when I started and would always be looking for better strategies.

 

[GerardK]

Alan,
There is no table of contents or index. There's just two workflow descriptions, one using a Nikon LS9000 with Silverfast to scan transparencies and one with an Epson V750 to scan negatives with Vuescan. You can combine steps yourself to mix and match, for instance use an Epson V750 (or similar flatbed) and Silverfast to scan transparencies etc. I hope the information posted in this forum, together with the descriptions of the book and on the pages that can be previewed, will be enough for you to be able to decide if this is a route you want to take with your scanning. Thanks, best of luck,

Best regards, Gerard Kingma

 

[Alan Klein]

OK Thanks for the info.

 

[chuck94022]

Being a sucker (in the sense of vacuum cleaners) for books on technique, I bought this. I happen to feel quite confident around my scanner, and have a good workflow, which is in fact pretty close to this one. But there were a few good nuggets there, especially around working with the ColorPerfect plugin (which I do use now, but because it is complex, some of the functions are a bit mysterious). I appreciated seeing some of my current practices validated by their use by the author.

I would say if you are not confident that you are getting everything you can from your scanning workflow, this book is a good start. I got the kindle version, which reads just fine on my iPad's kindle app.

Even if you are confident, this might help reinforce some of your practices.

For what it's worth, I have no financial or other relationship with the author, Amazon, Adobe, Epson, Nikon, or C F Systems Innovations. (Well, I own Nikon cameras and glass, and an Epson scanner...)

 

[Felinik]

Using Silverfast AI Studio 8 with the IT8 slide and the Negafix presets made color scanning a breeze. I'd love to have a look in that book still, just out of curiosity...

 

[GerardK]

Felinik,

The book is based on Silverfast Ai 6. I'm not sure whether NegaFix has been improved from 6 to 8, but I've gotten much better results with the workflow described in the guide, using a linear scan which is processed in ColorPerfect. NegaFix is not used in that route. If you already performed the IT8 calibration, that's a big help.

Best regards, Gerard Kingma

 

[chuck94022]

Using Silverfast AI Studio 8 with the IT8 slide and the Negafix presets made color scanning a breeze. I'd love to have a look in that book still, just out of curiosity...

While Silverfast 8 does a good job (I have it and have used it extensively) I went back to ColorPerfect for the outstanding control gained over Silverfast. Note that as far as I am aware, the company Silverfast used to profile films went out of business, and they have not created any new profiles since. I feel that while it can get close, I've always needed to tweak things more after the scan with Silverfast. (If the info above about the third party company is inaccurate, please respond with a correction.)

I also like doing the conversion separate from the scan. I think the scan process should focus on extracting the film content in total, as accurately as possible. After that, conversion should be applied. This allows multiple conversions with different interpretations, saving rescan.

But if you are in a hurry, Silverfast's conversion is good, and the ability to do batch scanning is very convenient. (I'd still batch scan in "HDR" mode, and do the conversions in ColorPerfect, but that's just me.)

 

[Felinik]

ColorPerfect is probably great, if one uses photoshop..

 

[GerardK]

Felinik,
Post #5 of this thread discusses alternatives to Photoshop,

 

[kiad]

Hi Gerardk
I'm using Nikon 5000 ED and Nikonscan software. I don't have silverfast. will I benefit from your workflow guide with Nikonscan ?

thanks,
Kiad

 

[kiad]

Hi Gerard
I'm using a Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED with Nikonscan software. I don't have the Silverfast one. Will I benefit form your book ?
Thanks
Kiad