Scanned slides blue

On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:41:30 -0600, Jim Mitchell <jrphoto.TakeThisOut@sasktel.net>
wrote:

>If you can post a coupel to a website I could take a llok and see if
>my copy of Ps CS3 can fix them withut much ado.
>
>If that is sucessful I will give you my adress where you can sned a
>bunch of pictures on a CD or DVD and I can fix them and send them
>back.

Thank you for the offer, but I would prefer to do it myself. When I
do that, I learn.



>On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:07:23 -0500, tony cooper
><tony_cooper213.TakeThisOut@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>>I'm in the process of scanning 100s of slides of family pictures taken
>>between 1964 and 1979. Most were taken on a Konica 35mm rangefinder
>>camera. I'm using a Minolta Dimage Scan Elite (dedicated slide/film
>>scanner).
>>
>>Most of the images either scan in with decent color or can be tweaked
>>with Curves to have decent color. "Decent" because some of the slides
>>have faded, some of the pictures were not taken in the best of
>>lighting, and the Konica didn't have any setting to change other than
>>f/stop and/or speed. Most were taken with ASA (not ISO in those days)
>>200 Daylight film if I remember correctly.
>>
>>When there are problems, they are in two areas:
>>
>>1. A blue cast in the entire picture. The blue you get when the
>>white balance in a modern camera is set for sunlight and you shoot
>>under incandescent. The "cold" blue. I've been fixing this -
>>somewhat - by adjusting Curves in the Blue channel, but that's
>>hit-or-miss.
>>
>>Is there a better sequence to follow?
>>
>>2. Washed out sky. A lot of pictures with sky so pale it has no
>>color. Many of the images were taken in Illinois, Ireland, and the
>>UK, but I distinctly remember the sun shining occasionally in these
>>areas. It wasn't always gray and cloudless.
>>
>>No fix discovered for this.
>>
>>These are family pix...our wedding, vacations, first day of school for
>>the kids, etc. I'm not looking for art here. Just a decent recording
>>of the family history during those years.
>>
>>There are 100s of slides, so I can't go through a complex process on
>>each. Tips on approach would be appreciated.
>>
>>(Using PS 7.0)

--

Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:07:23 -0500, tony cooper
<tony_cooper213.DeleteThis@earthlink.net> wrote:

>I'm in the process of scanning 100s of slides of family pictures taken
>between 1964 and 1979. Most were taken on a Konica 35mm rangefinder
>camera. I'm using a Minolta Dimage Scan Elite (dedicated slide/film
>scanner).
>
>Most of the images either scan in with decent color or can be tweaked
>with Curves to have decent color. "Decent" because some of the slides
>have faded, some of the pictures were not taken in the best of
>lighting, and the Konica didn't have any setting to change other than
>f/stop and/or speed. Most were taken with ASA (not ISO in those days)
>200 Daylight film if I remember correctly.
>
>When there are problems, they are in two areas:
>
>1. A blue cast in the entire picture. The blue you get when the
>white balance in a modern camera is set for sunlight and you shoot
>under incandescent. The "cold" blue. I've been fixing this -
>somewhat - by adjusting Curves in the Blue channel, but that's
>hit-or-miss.
>
>Is there a better sequence to follow?
>
>2. Washed out sky. A lot of pictures with sky so pale it has no
>color. Many of the images were taken in Illinois, Ireland, and the
>UK, but I distinctly remember the sun shining occasionally in these
>areas. It wasn't always gray and cloudless.
>
>No fix discovered for this.
>
>These are family pix...our wedding, vacations, first day of school for
>the kids, etc. I'm not looking for art here. Just a decent recording
>of the family history during those years.
>
>There are 100s of slides, so I can't go through a complex process on
>each. Tips on approach would be appreciated.
>
>(Using PS 7.0)

If you could post a sample of each problem, it would give us a
chance to see what exactly is going on in the pictures. If we can
correct the problems, we can relate to you what we did.
I do know that for the second problem, the sky being too pale,
you can use Color Mechanic Pro (a PhotoShop plugin) to correct that.
If you have the time to spend on it, you could simply add a blue sky
to the original picture. I've done that many times with good success.

Talker
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

"tony cooper" <tony_cooper213.DeleteThis@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:qim7q3hi3l5vr6ut1jvs2krr68g3l8ka8u@4ax.com...
> I'm in the process of scanning 100s of slides of family pictures taken
> between 1964 and 1979. Most were taken on a Konica 35mm rangefinder
> camera. I'm using a Minolta Dimage Scan Elite (dedicated slide/film
> scanner).
>
> Most of the images either scan in with decent color or can be tweaked
> with Curves to have decent color. "Decent" because some of the slides
> have faded, some of the pictures were not taken in the best of
> lighting, and the Konica didn't have any setting to change other than
> f/stop and/or speed. Most were taken with ASA (not ISO in those days)
> 200 Daylight film if I remember correctly.

I'm sure it was ISO then too - we just didn't know it.

> When there are problems, they are in two areas:
>
> 1. A blue cast in the entire picture. The blue you get when the
> white balance in a modern camera is set for sunlight and you shoot
> under incandescent. The "cold" blue. I've been fixing this -
> somewhat - by adjusting Curves in the Blue channel, but that's
> hit-or-miss.

Slides tend toward a bit toward blue anyway because they are color corrected
for a tungsten projector lamp.

> Is there a better sequence to follow?

If the color cast is strong, convert to Lab and adjust the positive end of
the b curve to add more yellow.

> 2. Washed out sky. A lot of pictures with sky so pale it has no
> color. Many of the images were taken in Illinois, Ireland, and the
> UK, but I distinctly remember the sun shining occasionally in these
> areas. It wasn't always gray and cloudless.

If it's like Pennsylvania, where I grew up, the sky are often bright and
cloudy all day, leading to dead skys.

> No fix discovered for this.

You can give a hint of blue to an otherwise featureless sky easily in Lab
mode, because unlike RGB it is possible to give color to a completely blown
feature of the image. Another way is to create a curves adjustment layer,
and copy the red or blue channel to the layer mask. Use levels or curves on
the layer mask to isolate the sky, and then darken away. Still another way -
if you are an editor, is to just plonk a sky from another image into the
picture, again using red or blue as your mask for the sky.

> These are family pix...our wedding, vacations, first day of school for
> the kids, etc. I'm not looking for art here. Just a decent recording
> of the family history during those years.

In that case, I'd stick with a natural sky, even if it's boring, and
concentrate on good skin tones with no blue shadows.

> There are 100s of slides, so I can't go through a complex process on
> each. Tips on approach would be appreciated.

Set up two or three default curves as actions, and attach them to function
keys. As you sort through the images, hit the function key appropriate for
that image. I imagine you might have one to get the basic blue out, and
then others to apply depending on the particular subject matter, need to
darken the sky etc. Spend extra time on masking, etc, only for the really
important images. Once you are set up, this should be very fast.

It goes without saying, probably, that you should keep your original scans
in a safe place. You may want to re-do some of the images from scratch as
you learn more about how to fix them.
--
Mike Russell - www.curvemeister.com
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

"Mike Russell" <RE-MOVEmike.RemoveThis@Curvemeister.comRE-MOVE> wrote in message
news:3dVoj.5278$J41.2013@newssvr14.news.prodigy.net...
> "tony cooper" <tony_cooper213.RemoveThis@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:qim7q3hi3l5vr6ut1jvs2krr68g3l8ka8u@4ax.com...
>> I'm in the process of scanning 100s of slides of family pictures taken
>> between 1964 and 1979. Most were taken on a Konica 35mm rangefinder
>> camera. I'm using a Minolta Dimage Scan Elite (dedicated slide/film
>> scanner).
>>
>> Most of the images either scan in with decent color or can be tweaked
>> with Curves to have decent color. "Decent" because some of the slides
>> have faded, some of the pictures were not taken in the best of
>> lighting, and the Konica didn't have any setting to change other than
>> f/stop and/or speed. Most were taken with ASA (not ISO in those days)
>> 200 Daylight film if I remember correctly.
>
> I'm sure it was ISO then too - we just didn't know it.
>
>> When there are problems, they are in two areas:
>>
>> 1. A blue cast in the entire picture. The blue you get when the
>> white balance in a modern camera is set for sunlight and you shoot
>> under incandescent. The "cold" blue. I've been fixing this -
>> somewhat - by adjusting Curves in the Blue channel, but that's
>> hit-or-miss.
>
> Slides tend toward a bit toward blue anyway because they are color
> corrected for a tungsten projector lamp.
>
>> Is there a better sequence to follow?
>
> If the color cast is strong, convert to Lab and adjust the positive end of
> the b curve to add more yellow.
>
>> 2. Washed out sky. A lot of pictures with sky so pale it has no
>> color. Many of the images were taken in Illinois, Ireland, and the
>> UK, but I distinctly remember the sun shining occasionally in these
>> areas. It wasn't always gray and cloudless.
>
> If it's like Pennsylvania, where I grew up, the sky are often bright and
> cloudy all day, leading to dead skys.
>
>> No fix discovered for this.
>
> You can give a hint of blue to an otherwise featureless sky easily in Lab
> mode, because unlike RGB it is possible to give color to a completely
> blown feature of the image. Another way is to create a curves adjustment
> layer, and copy the red or blue channel to the layer mask. Use levels or
> curves on the layer mask to isolate the sky, and then darken away. Still
> another way - if you are an editor, is to just plonk a sky from another
> image into the picture, again using red or blue as your mask for the sky.
>
>> These are family pix...our wedding, vacations, first day of school for
>> the kids, etc. I'm not looking for art here. Just a decent recording
>> of the family history during those years.
>
> In that case, I'd stick with a natural sky, even if it's boring, and
> concentrate on good skin tones with no blue shadows.
>
>> There are 100s of slides, so I can't go through a complex process on
>> each. Tips on approach would be appreciated.
>
> Set up two or three default curves as actions, and attach them to function
> keys. As you sort through the images, hit the function key appropriate
> for that image. I imagine you might have one to get the basic blue out,
> and then others to apply depending on the particular subject matter, need
> to darken the sky etc. Spend extra time on masking, etc, only for the
> really important images. Once you are set up, this should be very fast.
>
> It goes without saying, probably, that you should keep your original scans
> in a safe place. You may want to re-do some of the images from scratch as
> you learn more about how to fix them.
> --
> Mike Russell - www.curvemeister.com
>
>

Indeed, you are the Curvemeister.

r.
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

On Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:46:07 GMT, "Mike Russell"
<RE-MOVEmike.RemoveThis@Curvemeister.comRE-MOVE> wrote:

>"tony cooper" <tony_cooper213.RemoveThis@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>news:qim7q3hi3l5vr6ut1jvs2krr68g3l8ka8u@4ax.com...
>> I'm in the process of scanning 100s of slides of family pictures taken
>> between 1964 and 1979. Most were taken on a Konica 35mm rangefinder
>> camera. I'm using a Minolta Dimage Scan Elite (dedicated slide/film
>> scanner).
>>
>> Most of the images either scan in with decent color or can be tweaked
>> with Curves to have decent color. "Decent" because some of the slides
>> have faded, some of the pictures were not taken in the best of
>> lighting, and the Konica didn't have any setting to change other than
>> f/stop and/or speed. Most were taken with ASA (not ISO in those days)
>> 200 Daylight film if I remember correctly.
>
>I'm sure it was ISO then too - we just didn't know it.
>
>> When there are problems, they are in two areas:
>>
>> 1. A blue cast in the entire picture. The blue you get when the
>> white balance in a modern camera is set for sunlight and you shoot
>> under incandescent. The "cold" blue. I've been fixing this -
>> somewhat - by adjusting Curves in the Blue channel, but that's
>> hit-or-miss.
>
>Slides tend toward a bit toward blue anyway because they are color corrected
>for a tungsten projector lamp.
>
That answers a question unasked. When I view the slides using my
Kodak Carousel I don't notice the blue cast. When I scan them into
PS, I do. I thought the blue cast was being added in the scanning
process.

Thanks for the other suggestions.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f244/cooper213/flowerman.jpg is
straight from the scanner (except I scan in .psd and this has been
changed to a .jpg). With just a slight tweak in Curves Blue Channel I
can make the colors much better with the granite looking gray instead
of blue-gray. The tweak makes the green mat on the stand a bit
garish, but that could be the actual color.

This must be the blue cast that the color correction puts in. This
one is easy to work with. Some are more difficult because the tweak
changes things that shouldn't be changed. I can't take the time to
mask and re-tweak with so many slides.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f244/cooper213/irelandmilk.jpg is
also straight from the scanner. This one I can correct in two steps:
a tweak in Curves RGB setting the white point and then a tweak in the
Blue Channel to change the window frame and walls. The result is
pretty close to what I actually remember of the colors.

Both of these are slides from a 1969 vacation...the first in London
and the second in Ireland.

The only thing I don't understand - but it doesn't really make a
difference - is why these two pictures (and many like them) came out
with a blue cast (stronger in the milk bottles) but most of the
pictures require no adjustments at all. In some I might tick Levels a
bit to brighten them up, but straight from the scanner would be OK.

I'm not putting up any images where I'm in the picture. The guy in
those pictures taken in the late 60s and early 70s doesn't look like
me. He had a 29 inch waist. The current version has a 38 inch
waist.







--

Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

This message is not archived
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

This message is not archived
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

On Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:54:17 -0600, Joel <Joel RemoveThis @NoSpam.com> wrote:

>tony cooper <tony_cooper213 RemoveThis @earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:41:30 -0600, Jim Mitchell <jrphoto RemoveThis @sasktel.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >If you can post a coupel to a website I could take a llok and see if
>> >my copy of Ps CS3 can fix them withut much ado.
>> >
>> >If that is sucessful I will give you my adress where you can sned a
>> >bunch of pictures on a CD or DVD and I can fix them and send them
>> >back.
>>
>> Thank you for the offer, but I would prefer to do it myself. When I
>> do that, I learn.
>
> The (topper) poster asked you to post the SAMPLE so he can see the problem
>to give you some advice (or instruction) how to solve the casting problem,
>not offering doing the fixing for you.

First, a sample doesn't cover all the images. As you can see from the
two samples I did post, the blue cast comes out very different in
different photographs.

Second, he did offer. Read his second paragraph, which is what I
responded to. It was a nice offer, but - for reasons of my own - not
one I will accept.


--

Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

On Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:12:43 -0600, Joel <Joel.TakeThisOut@NoSpam.com> wrote:

>tony cooper <tony_cooper213.TakeThisOut@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
><snip>
>> Thanks for the other suggestions.
>>
>> http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f244/cooper213/flowerman.jpg is
>> straight from the scanner (except I scan in .psd and this has been
>> changed to a .jpg). With just a slight tweak in Curves Blue Channel I
>> can make the colors much better with the granite looking gray instead
>> of blue-gray. The tweak makes the green mat on the stand a bit
>> garish, but that could be the actual color.
>>
>> This must be the blue cast that the color correction puts in. This
>> one is easy to work with. Some are more difficult because the tweak
>> changes things that shouldn't be changed. I can't take the time to
>> mask and re-tweak with so many slides.
>>
>> http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f244/cooper213/irelandmilk.jpg is
>> also straight from the scanner. This one I can correct in two steps:
>> a tweak in Curves RGB setting the white point and then a tweak in the
>> Blue Channel to change the window frame and walls. The result is
>> pretty close to what I actually remember of the colors.
>
> I would start with "Color Selective",

I've never had success with "Selective Color". With the Irish milk
bottles, adjusting either Blue or Cyan doesn't seem to do much.

>and of course also try "Curve",
>"Hue/Sat", "Color Balance" to see which works better, and even "Auto
>Level/Color" sometime do the trick too (except I never use Auto myself).

I like Curves. I usually dink around with the actual curve, but
"Auto" in Curves sometimes works. I seldom use "Auto" in anything.

> I believe it's possible to use Layer and Blending, also Photoshop has a
>feature to balance the color from 2 separated images,

I don't know what this is. Is it in PS 7.0? That's what I have.


--

Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

"tony cooper" <tony_cooper213 DeleteThis @earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:k8d9q39cqcqvq3vd23d2amf6onsmc8nb0m@4ax.com...
>
>> I believe it's possible to use Layer and Blending, also Photoshop has
>> a
>>feature to balance the color from 2 separated images,
>
> I don't know what this is. Is it in PS 7.0? That's what I have.
>
>
> --
>
> Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

Tony I use PS7 also and we don't have it...
I do have a question though... Why aren't you using just two clicks to
fix your pictures... Auto Levels and Auto Color.. a sample (with your
pics) and these two clicks is here:
http://img187.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=78595_AutoLevelsAutoColor_1...233lo.j
--
"Granny"
Old N Slow N Prefer Quick N Easy
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

On Sat, 2 Feb 2008 13:07:04 -0600, "granny" <DontSpamMe DeleteThis @NoSpam.com>
wrote:

>
>"tony cooper" <tony_cooper213 DeleteThis @earthlink.net> wrote in message
>news:k8d9q39cqcqvq3vd23d2amf6onsmc8nb0m@4ax.com...
>>
>>> I believe it's possible to use Layer and Blending, also Photoshop has
>>> a
>>>feature to balance the color from 2 separated images,
>>
>> I don't know what this is. Is it in PS 7.0? That's what I have.
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
>
>Tony I use PS7 also and we don't have it...
>I do have a question though... Why aren't you using just two clicks to
>fix your pictures... Auto Levels and Auto Color.. a sample (with your
>pics) and these two clicks is here:
>http://img187.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=78595_AutoLevelsAutoColor_122_233lo.jpg

Habit. The "auto" clicks often do the job quite admirably (as your
modifications have), but they too often don't, so I'm just in the
habit of avoiding them.


--

Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:07:23 -0500, tony cooper
<tony_cooper213.RemoveThis@earthlink.net> wrote:

Kodak's ROC filter:
http://asf.com/products/plugins/rocpro/pluginROCPRO/that's

a plugin for PhotoShop might be what you're looking for. Here's what
it did for your pictures. I just used the default settings in my
older version of it.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1B6uGSuW54FwBlw8eQinVoCSOYVBIP

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=196Mg1DytWzCGCdWgYIOeGoAup86Hu

Talker
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue 

On Sat, 02 Feb 2008 18:01:46 -0500, Talker <Talker DeleteThis @thegood.com> wrote:

>On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:07:23 -0500, tony cooper
><tony_cooper213 DeleteThis @earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> Kodak's ROC filter:
>http://asf.com/products/plugins/rocpro/pluginROCPRO

>
>a plugin for PhotoShop might be what you're looking for. Here's what
>it did for your pictures. I just used the default settings in my
>older version of it.
>
>http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1B6uGSuW54FwBlw8eQinVoCSOYVBIP
>
>http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=196Mg1DytWzCGCdWgYIOeGoAup86Hu
>
That's cool. Expensive, but nice.

--

Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
 >> Stay informed about: Scanned slides blue