C 41 BLACK AND WHITE FILM HOW TO
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C 41 BLACK AND WHITE FILM SOFTWARE
C 41 BLACK AND WHITE FILM PROFESSIONAL

If you use autofocus only on the prescan, it may focus on an area without much texture and reduce image sharpness in the final scan. This should be a detailed area, not a flat tone. On some scanners, like my Nikon scanners, you can choose a pont on the image for the autofocus mechanism to lock on to. Auto Focus: Set this to ALWAYS (if you scanner offers this.flatbeds don't usually). You'll regret this deeply when you decide to make a larger print and have to rescan and redo ALL your post-processing, dodging and burning, retouching, etc. Don't scan lower thinking you'll make smaller prints. Scan Resolution: Whatever your scanner's highest is. This option doesn't show in my screenshots because I was using a film holder that loads only one negative at a time. See my Vuescan Batch Scanning Tutorial for directions. Batch Scanning: This allows scanning more than one image at a time. Since BW negatives scan in flat, you need this ability. A 16 bit scan can take more curves and levels adjustments without losing quality than an 8 bit file can. 16 bit gray: Scanning BW negatives in a color mode just increases file size and does not increase tonal range or quality, no matter what anyone tries to tell you. It'll also be even flatter looking, but that is sometimes useful when scanning very contrasty images.

You can use the transparency setting, but the scan will look like a negative, and will need inverted in Photoshop. Source: If you have more than one scanner connected to your computer and turned on, you'll need to tell Vuescan which one you want to use. I want to explain why I use some of the settings that may not be self-explanatory. Vuescan's Mac and Windows versions are identical, so these settings work on either OS.

C 41 BLACK AND WHITE FILM PROFESSIONAL

My instructions below are for the Professional Version of Vuescan, using the advanced control set. It tends to be unstable on later versions of PowerPC OS-X and Windows, and will not work at all on the Intel Macs and the new Apple Silicon Macs. I use Vuescan, rather than Nikon's scanner software, because Nikon stopped supporting Nikon Scan years ago. The information that I give below should work perfectly for any Nikon Scanner, and should be pretty close with other film scanners. I use a Nikon LS-50 (Coolscan V) scanner with Vuescan software. Screenshot of Vuescan with a prescan of a negative waiting to be cropped In addition to this tutorial, I also have a a video version of this tutorial on YouTube.

Most photographers use WAY too little contrast in thier scanned black and white images. My examples below show a few of my photographs with the unedited scan and the final edited version so that you can see just how much needs to be done.

C 41 BLACK AND WHITE FILM SOFTWARE

That couldn't be further from the truth.įilm scans need to be edited in Photoshop or whatever software you like to increase the contrast to normal, like a proper black and white image should have. Some think that it is how its supposed to be, others know how a black and white image should look, and they conclude that scanning sucks and that it is incapable of quality rendering. It seems that most photographers just accept the flat, lifeless, dull image that the raw scan provides.

C 41 BLACK AND WHITE FILM FULL

A full range of tones on a BW negative will include some areas of clear or near clear film in the deepest blacks, but the brightest whites in a properly exposed and developed negative will not be near as dense as the blacks in a slide.įor that reason, negatives will always scan in very flat looking. A full range of tones on a color slide will include areas of totally clear film and areas of almost opaque black. I see a lot of images on the web that are scans from black and white negatives, and most of them look flat and dead.įilm scanners are designed primarily for scanning color transparencies, which have a much greater density range than a black and white negative.

C 41 BLACK AND WHITE FILM HOW TO

How To Scan Black & White Film With Vuescan

C 41 black and white film