Colour Neg scanning workflow & film "character"

[sjb79]

hi,

I've just started shooting and scanning colour neg film, mainly Portra 160 NC and Portra 800. When I come to scan it on the Epson V500, I preview the negatives as thumbnails. With the "keepers", I adjust the histogram to get the most info out of the negative. I adjust the RGB channel first making sure not to clip the shadows and highlights and then adjust the seperate R, G and B channels to make sure that I get all of the colour out of the negative. This also gets rid of any colour cast.

I usually end up with a decently exposed and coloured file to play with, but I am wondering, with this workflow, am I keeping the character of the film? Or would any other colour neg film look the same out of my scanner because it is scanned with the same values? I am using the Epson scan software btw.

Thanks.

 

[chrispiper]

For color I shoot Portra400NC and scan on a V500 as well. I started off using the Epson scan tools (curves, RGB, etc) but stopped. I did this mostly for speed and secondly for consistency. Since all of my images go straight into Lightroom, I would rather use the tools there. LR has excellent batch abilities, so I can take the raw scans and do color corrections, curves, etc and keep the files looking similar. I found it harder to use the Epson tools in batch mode across images so the images from a roll would end up all over the board adjustment wise. And when you're scanning three or four rolls at a sitting, the time spend fiddling in Epson's tools really adds up. LR is much faster for me and more consistent as well.

As far as retaining the "character" of the film - I don't really sweat it much. I like the colors and feel I get from Portra but I have no qualms moving the bits around in Lightroom once it's converted to digital. I don't think my images are radically altered and they certainly don't look like something out of PhotoShop User magazine, but I don't mind moving contrast, saturation, etc to make a pleasing image.

Chris

 

[DNG]

I started adj the negative with the scanning software, but, I just scan with no adj, except a slight crop when needed. I use a dedicated 35mm scanner, so I can't batch scan.
I've found that I loose nothing, and I can make the needed adj in ACDSee Pro 3 quite easily. I haven't noticed any change in the film character either.

 

[shadowfox]

I find that even flatbed scanners can capture the characteristic "tone" of a certain film type.

One thing, I actually have to restrain myself from "correcting" everything in the histogram or curve tools both in the scanning software or post-processing tools. Sometimes the off-numbers are the ones that gives the image a certain look.

For instance these two:

When I corrected the color-balance in post-processing, they look ordinary, but when I left them alone, the off-balance "tone" that to me gives it that vintage (almost painting-like) look.

The film is Fuji 160 NPS (expired).

 

[f/14]

The Silverfast scanning software has profiles for most well-known film types.
Tell the software what film you use and it adjusts the scan output to match the response curve of the film. You may of course have to adjust each frame individually depending on the exposure and lightning, but it is a good starting point.

 

[sjb79]

Thanks for the responses. My photoshop skills aren't up to much so my thinking was to get the negs looking as "normal" as possible before scanning. I'll start trusting photoshop a bit more for colour correcting. The previews in Epson scan have massive colour casts on them and I thought it would almost be a waste of time scanning them with these casts.

Lots to learn still!

 

[sjb79]

I'll have a look at Silverfast, thanks f/1,4.

 

[chrispiper]

I agree with ShadowFox - I don't always go for "correct" color or contrast in post. Often the film gives you a great image, no changes necessary. Sometimes you want to keep a color cast or strong highlight/shadow if it makes for a stronger image. Correcting it wouldn't add anything. You can have a technically correct but boring image.

In any case, it's up to you to make the adjustments you want. It's your picture and you should feel free to do with it what you want.

Chris

 

[bagdadchild]

I have some experience with scanning both with flatbeds and hi-end production scanners and my advice is to scan all types of film as positive and then invert the scanned image in post processing (unless its positive film) and correct the individual rgb channels from there. I get better and far more consistent results than fiddling with various kinds of scanner software.

 

[Lovesong]

If you're really interested in obtaining/maintaining a true film "character," you really need to profile your scanner with an IT8 target. I recently purchased a set from Wolf Faust ($90 for 2 prints (Fuji and Kodak) and a handful of slides (pretty much everything you would need from RVP,RDP, and RAP to Kodachrome and some Agfa)).
Essentially by calibrating your scanner you are letting the program know how your particular printer will handle individual colors. From there, you will find that the profiles that came with your software, be it Silverfast or Vuescan, will actually produce colors that are much more accurate, and closer to that film "character."