stevelmx5
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 10,176
- Name
- Steve
- Edit My Images
- No
Following on from the 'Show us your film shots' thread, I've exported a couple of screenshots from Lightroom to share what steps I took when scanning my latest Velvia slides. I still find it hard to get consistent results with digital scans but I'm starting to realise that's as much down to my technique when shooting with Velvia as it is my digital process.
Anyway, Jao asked for some more information about my techniques so;
1) First scan output - I have both Epson Scan and Viewscan but tend to favour Epson's software as I've never seen any huge difference between outputs of the two. I have all options disabled and just stretched the levels out to each end of the histogram after the preview to drag out as much shadow detail as possible without killing the highlights. The basic settings are 48 Bit and 3200dpi, output as jpg (I've just realised that this is already cropped but the colour is as per the scan)
First Scan by -Steve Lloyd-
The first scan generally has a red/magenta cast but I've found it's best accepting this from the scan software instead of trying to correct it.
2) Import to Lightroom - I then imported the initial scan to Lightroom and applied a preset which I've created myself to remove the red/magenta cast. The bulk of this preset uses the Hue/Saturation/Luminance (HSL) sliders to remove the cast and get the image somewhere nearer to the finished colours. Whist the preset isn't a perfect job, it gets me somewhere close and just leaves me to 'tickle' the image to get it to the finished output. Generally, I've found that the saturation needs to be toned down a little so the shot doesn't looked overcooked and unnatural.
HSL Adjustments by -Steve Lloyd-
This is the shot after the preset has been applied. The blues are still too vibrant, even for Velvia!
3) Final editing - Each slide is different so the editing steps after the preset will also be different but in the case of this photo, the main work was with the Highlights/Shadows/Vibrance sliders along with a shift in blue and aqua saturation. I also cropped/rotated the image because I thought a square format would suit it better. After that, I removed some blemishes in the sky with the spot heal brush and finally exported the finished image.
Lightroom Steps by -Steve Lloyd-
4) Finished photo - Whilst there is still a slight blue hue on the white parts of the buildings that I need to edit directly in photoshop, I'm happy overall with this. I have a couple of other shots on the same film that have much stronger contrasts between shadows and bright skies so I haven't been able to get a consistent result across the frame using this method which is where it comes down to metering more consistently in the first place or simply moving to shoot from a better location or at a better time of day.
Mamiya 645Pro - Lake District by -Steve Lloyd-
I hope this is useful for anyone else struggling to get consistent results from scanning Velvia with a flatbed scanner (I use a V500). Whilst I'm nowhere near consistent, each time I get a scan to look anywhere close to the amazing colours and clarity of the slide in my hand, I'm made up!
If anyone wants the preset, let me know and I'll put it into Dropbox. It's by no means perfect but might at least give a start point.
Cheers
Steve
Anyway, Jao asked for some more information about my techniques so;
1) First scan output - I have both Epson Scan and Viewscan but tend to favour Epson's software as I've never seen any huge difference between outputs of the two. I have all options disabled and just stretched the levels out to each end of the histogram after the preview to drag out as much shadow detail as possible without killing the highlights. The basic settings are 48 Bit and 3200dpi, output as jpg (I've just realised that this is already cropped but the colour is as per the scan)
First Scan by -Steve Lloyd-The first scan generally has a red/magenta cast but I've found it's best accepting this from the scan software instead of trying to correct it.
2) Import to Lightroom - I then imported the initial scan to Lightroom and applied a preset which I've created myself to remove the red/magenta cast. The bulk of this preset uses the Hue/Saturation/Luminance (HSL) sliders to remove the cast and get the image somewhere nearer to the finished colours. Whist the preset isn't a perfect job, it gets me somewhere close and just leaves me to 'tickle' the image to get it to the finished output. Generally, I've found that the saturation needs to be toned down a little so the shot doesn't looked overcooked and unnatural.
HSL Adjustments by -Steve Lloyd-This is the shot after the preset has been applied. The blues are still too vibrant, even for Velvia!
3) Final editing - Each slide is different so the editing steps after the preset will also be different but in the case of this photo, the main work was with the Highlights/Shadows/Vibrance sliders along with a shift in blue and aqua saturation. I also cropped/rotated the image because I thought a square format would suit it better. After that, I removed some blemishes in the sky with the spot heal brush and finally exported the finished image.
Lightroom Steps by -Steve Lloyd-4) Finished photo - Whilst there is still a slight blue hue on the white parts of the buildings that I need to edit directly in photoshop, I'm happy overall with this. I have a couple of other shots on the same film that have much stronger contrasts between shadows and bright skies so I haven't been able to get a consistent result across the frame using this method which is where it comes down to metering more consistently in the first place or simply moving to shoot from a better location or at a better time of day.
Mamiya 645Pro - Lake District by -Steve Lloyd-I hope this is useful for anyone else struggling to get consistent results from scanning Velvia with a flatbed scanner (I use a V500). Whilst I'm nowhere near consistent, each time I get a scan to look anywhere close to the amazing colours and clarity of the slide in my hand, I'm made up!
If anyone wants the preset, let me know and I'll put it into Dropbox. It's by no means perfect but might at least give a start point.
Cheers
Steve
Last edited:
