Photography Related Questions

Is it possible to have the thumbnail show up on the main page and monthly and category archives (with the full-sized image available as a pop-up by clicking on the thumbnail) but have a full-sized image on the individual entry archive? I could put the full-sized image in the Extended Entry part, but then both the thumbnail and full-sized image will show up on the individual entry page.
This is the first time I have used the film scanner at school. It does 4000dpi, but they don’t have any blower etc. to clean the negatives before loading, so there are lots of particles and even some fingerprints on the scanned images. How should I clean the negative strips and should I do it immediately before loading? I need tips, people (PhotoDude, are you reading?)
When scanning negatives, is it worth it to play with the curves, noise reduction, multi-sampling etc. in the capture software or should I capture the image and do everything later in Photoshop?
Is it normal to have a noisy image at the 6000 × 4000 resolution?

4 comments

[1] I put the thumbnail in the space for “Entry Excerpt.” I place the full size in the “Main Body,” which leaves the “Extended Entry” to use for captions and other comments. You should be able to set your template so that the thumbnail is wrapped in a link tag that spurs the pop up window, but I’m not sure how you would differentiate that from a link to the individual entry page. My inclination would be to either have thumbnail archives with popup windows, or individual entries with the full size image … not both.

[2] Get yourself some canned air at the photo store (it has less moisture than standard canned air, like at the computer store). Always keep the air nozzle parallel to the floor (tipping it up or down can cause a burst of freon), and lightly blow off the negative/slide just before you put it in the scanner. I usually hold the negative/slide nearly flat, and then blow air across its surface. Fingerprints are another issue (after the scan touch up), and I don’t advise “polishing” the negative, the emulsion is too fragile and will scratch. The upper end Nikon scanners have a software feature called “Digital Ice,” which slows the scan when turned on, but algorithmically removes the vast majority of spotting and blemishing. It’s truly magical.

[3] To convert to a darkroom analogy, think of the scan you are making as a negative. You want it to have all the information possible, from highlight detail to shadow detail. This will likely mean the raw scan will look somewhat flat. But, basically, you want to capture as much information as possible in the scan. Then, in Photoshop, you can manipulate that information in myriad ways, without damaging the original data. The only corrections I tend to make at the scan stage is any gross color imbalance, and that’s only on the rare problem image.

[4] Oh, yes. Big doesn’t necessarily mean “clean.” A scanner with a low density rating (a dynamic range of 3.0-3.5) will likely produce noise in the shadow areas, no matter what you do. Unfortunately, contrary to my advice above, the more you try to open up those shadows in the scan, the more noise you get. Scanners whose dynamic range is closer to 4.0 or above (almost all of the recent models) will be less problematic in this regard. I don’t know what your end usage is, but there is some advantage to size if your end output is print. By scanning that big, when you size it down, you are also sizing down the noise. The trick is to try and judge the noise level with your zoom set to “print size,” or whatever your end output size. This will give you a better read on what areas are *really * a problem.

Cloning is tedious, but it is your best friend. And it’s not nearly as tedious as the traditional Wet Darkroom problem: when you have to spot a black and white print for the same reasons … dust on the negative … and match the tone by hand and eye.

Thanks, PhotoDude.

I think the scanner we have has a dynamic range of 4.2.

These are old negatives when I had a film camera. I will probably just digitize them since I have the prints. But it’s good to have scans at a high resolution in case you need it later.