WWII Kodachrome slides: Paris

dutchsteammachine · Feb 8, 2020

Showcase of newly acquired WWII Kodachrome collection.

Scans of original slides. All photos will eventually be on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/steamarchive/

Music: Else - Paris

ozphoto · Feb 8, 2020

Saw your post on WW2Talk too - the B&W Axis images are remarkable.

The scans of these Kodachromes are amazing; I have a truckload from the 70s that I've been scanning (slowly), but still having a few issues with them being a little too cyan and none are as rich as these examples.

Any tips?

Alan Edward Klein · Feb 8, 2020

Very nice. It looked like you pick white or black point at the edge of transitions between light and dark. Did I miss-see that? How do you decide whether to use gray black or white?

dutchsteammachine · Feb 11, 2020

WWII-Allied-1-10

WWII-Allied-1-16

WWII-Allied-1-03

dutchsteammachine · Feb 11, 2020

ozphoto said:
Saw your post on WW2Talk too - the B&W Axis images are remarkable.

The scans of these Kodachromes are amazing; I have a truckload from the 70s that I've been scanning (slowly), but still having a few issues with them being a little too cyan and none are as rich as these examples.

Any tips?

Hello ozphoto,

Yes colour casts with Kodachrome is a known problem. Some software has a special K14/Kodachrome setting to correct for the cast. Vuescan has this.

Try increasing the opposite colours of cyan? I don't do much colour correction of my own myself. I mostly let the software do the work and make some minor final adjustments.

Setting a white balance on what you know should be white can help.

dutchsteammachine · Feb 11, 2020

Alan Edward Klein said:
Very nice. It looked like you pick white or black point at the edge of transitions between light and dark. Did I miss-see that? How do you decide whether to use gray black or white?

Alan,

The tiny circle with 'F' in the middle is setting the focus point. I always put this on places with sharp contrasts (As suggested by the Vuescan manual) in the area of interest.

Alan Edward Klein · Feb 11, 2020

dutchsteammachine said:
Alan,

The tiny circle with 'F' in the middle is setting the focus point. I always put this on places with sharp contrasts (As suggested by the Vuescan manual) in the area of interest.

What does that do? WHich scanner do you use?

dutchsteammachine · Feb 11, 2020

Alan Edward Klein said:
What does that do? WHich scanner do you use?

It has the scanner focus on the grain on that point of the film.

For this a Nikon Super Coolscan 9000, but I also got a 8000 and an Epson V750.

dutchsteammachine · Feb 13, 2020

Semena Mertvykh

Flickr Album: WWII-Allied-1-Paris

Andrew O'Neill · Feb 13, 2020

These are excellent! I'll have to show my photo class the last one especially! We are actually going over how to avoid background objects looking like hats on people!

dutchsteammachine · Feb 13, 2020

Andrew O'Neill said:
These are excellent! I'll have to show my photo class the last one especially! We are actually going over how to avoid background objects looking like hats on people!

Haha! I didn't notice that one. And those things usually bother me. Now i'll never be able to unsee it.

Would love people to use my work, just credit me appropriately as 'Niels' or 'Dutchsteammachine'

A lot of money and effort goes into providing these online

Andrew O'Neill · Feb 13, 2020

dutchsteammachine said:
Haha! I didn't notice that one. And those things usually bother me. Now i'll never be able to unsee it.

Would love people to use my work, just credit me appropriately as 'Niels' or 'Dutchsteammachine'

A lot of money and effort goes into providing these online

Thank you, Niels! Will do!

dutchsteammachine · Feb 13, 2020

Andrew O'Neill said:
Thank you, Niels! Will do!

Today we'll learn that everything can be a hat if you time it right (;

Andrew O'Neill · Feb 13, 2020

dutchsteammachine said:
Today we'll learn that everything can be a hat if you time it right (;

The decisive moment!

AgX · Feb 13, 2020

What I find surprising in these photos from Paris of August/September is that the private cars are all running on gasoline.

Mr Flibble · Feb 14, 2020

My assumption is that this is at least after VE-Day in 1945, due to "former-unit" patches being worn on the right shoulder by the GIs. A practice that starts to show up around that time. Also the jeep with the hardtop modification is a clear sign this is very late-war or post-VE-day.
Gasoline would probably still be rationed, but not impossible to get. (Not to mention a booming black market in Allied supplies)

Hunter_Compton · Feb 14, 2020

Mr Flibble said:
My assumption is that this is at least after VE-Day in 1945, due to "former-unit" patches being worn on the right shoulder by the GIs. A practice that starts to show up around that time. Also the jeep with the hardtop modification is a clear sign this is very late-war or post-VE-day.
Gasoline would probably still be rationed, but not impossible to get. (Not to mention a booming black market in Allied supplies)

I'm glad someone with a more nuanced knowledge that myself was able to comment on this. I had the suspicion that these were taken immediately post-war, but nothing stood out to me that would definitively indicate so. Everyone seemed too cheery for there to still be a war on, and who would send up a balloon in wartime?

AgX · Feb 14, 2020

Mr Flibble said:
My assumption is that this is at least after VE-Day in 1945.

Good point!

AgX · Feb 14, 2020

Here in Germany continental european VE-day celebrations are not even known, the only celebrations that are reported here widely are those immediately after the liberations of those foreign cities, especially Paris.

WWII Kodachrome slides: Paris

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WWII Kodachrome slides: Paris

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