The Scanning Project-3: Editing: Color Slides

While you might think the first thing to do is run out and buy a good scanner (I’ll go over different types of scanners and their benefits in a future posting) the most time-consuming and crucial part of the process is figuring out what you want to scan.

There's no question that some types of slide film hold their color and density better than others. This scanned Kodachrome, shot in 1992, still retains all the tone and color from the day it was processed. Photo copyright George Schaub

 The benefit of starting with past work is that you have had time to “digest” whether that work still holds meaning for you. This helps in the editing process as hopefully you have become more discerning in terms of image quality as well as considerations of what image content stands the test of time. In some cases, for those who shot film way back, the physical condition of certain types of film will play a big role in this process.

As to what images to choose that is a very personal matter and I will not make any suggestions here. All I can say is that if you have dupes or similars of a particular shot do take some time to pick the best of the lot. This might seem like it goes without saying, but editing means making choices, and getting involved with scanning means that you will be making decisions about picking the best of perhaps four or five shots of a particular scene. Just plant your flag and go for it!

Color Slides

The first step is to think about, and choose, slides that will yield good scans. As you work you will learn what might work, what will require extra effort to get right, and what slides are just not going to turn out right. You can fight city hall to an extent, thanks to software, but there are simply some slides that will not work out. You can try a few poor quality slides to see how far you can take them, especially if they are of precious moments or memories, but don’t expect much from them except having a record and a snapshot of them in their current condition.

Here's a scanned Ektachrome exposed and processed in 1994. The original was color rich and had textural whites, even in the bright clouds in the sky. While there is certainly some diminution of the color, the biggest problem, and that which will dash any hopes of getting a good print from the full frame, is the loss of density in the brighter areas of the clouds. Note the burnout of the cloud edge above the beer mug. This cannot be properly burned in and although very experienced software users might be able to get some texture back, overall it might just not be worth the time required to get it right. Photo copyright George Schaub

Of course, one option is to crop out the offending area. That's what I did here, but by doing so I got pretty much right to the edge of acceptable sharpness, and would opt to make this a considerably smaller print than I might otherwise like. I also cloned some of the blue into the upper right edge to get rid of some burned out sky. Knowing what you can and cannot accomplish and making edits accordingly will save you time and perhaps wasted efforts later.

One of the worst kept secrets in photography is the poor keeping qualities of certain types of slide film. A good read is Henry Wilhelm’s “The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs” (http://www.wilhelm-research.com) in which he rightfully chastises certain manufacturers for the poor keeping qualities of products that promised to be “the memory keepers.”

Even with optimal storage conditions, many types of transparency film will, by their very nature, begin to deteriorate way before one would anticipate, or hope. If you have not looked at your old slides of a certain breed for many years you might be shocked at what you discover—color shifts (mainly towards magenta), surface deterioration and density loss (blacks becoming mottled, whites and highlights blanking out). This is nothing new. Commercial photographers found this out many years ago when trying to salvage their E-3 processed Ektachromes.

Luckily, some of this loss can be ameliorated by software, but when highlights are gone in positive film there’s no bringing them back. In my experience this is a common occurrence with most slide films of a certain vintage, although Kodachromes, due to their unique construction and processing, do best in this regard. Other Kodak produced films turned out to be real dogs, including higher speed Ektachromes and especially older Ektachromes, even those with E-6 processing. Labels like Anscochrome and Agfachrome can be abysmal in their keeping qualities.

Here's an Agfachrome exposed and processed in 1990. The shift to magenta is apparent, and there has been considerable density loss. In most instances, scanning and trying to get something decent out of such slides might be a waste of time, although I certainly do not discourage your trying: that's how you'll learn about what should be edited in and out of your scan collection. Copyright George Schaub

One option of course is converting to black and white, which in one step removes the curse of the color shift and allows you more control over density and tonality. This is a good strategy for precious photos of family and friends.

 The proper storage for older film materials is not in the realm of this discussion, and again Wilhelm is a prime source on this matter, but common sense methods include storage in low humidity and low heat conditions, using so-called archival storage materials, and limiting exposure to light. (One interesting sidebar is that while Kodachromes generally stood the test of time much better than other materials, if you regularly projected Kodachromes you have substantially cut down on their life expectancy. That’s why slide trays of experienced presenters contained not original Kodachromes but dupes.)

Note the retained textural whites in the flag bunting in this scanned Kodachrome from 1984. Slides like this are easy to scan and yield excellent prints. When you edit, batch images with these characteristics for a productive and rewarding scanning session. Start with these so you can get some positive reinforcement about what scanning can do. Likewise, batch the problem slides and those with similar flaws together so you can develop a workflow plan that will aid in their recovery.

Photo copyright George Schaub

In any case, one of the first considerations of editing might be to choose and salvage as best you can those slides that are starting to go over the edge. They will be apparent to you as you edit your materials. Keep in mind that some may be irredeemable, but if the image is important to you, such as childhood photos of your now grown children, also keep in mind that you can always ignore the color shifts by converting the image to black and white or even rescue some of the “natural” color via processing. As to density loss (highlights gone blank) there’s nothing much you can do about that, although judicious cropping and some software work can help salvage something from your most precious shots.

Finally, batch your edits by film type as best you can, as you may be working with film “profiles” with certain types of scanner software as a way to get a ballpark read on the proper values for each type of material. This is especially true when scanning Kodachromes versus other types of slide films. In general, Kodachromes are usually “warmer” than other types, and their color layers are quite distinct in character. This segregation by type might be difficult if you have generic (non-brand labeled) mounts, but do the best you can.

Next posting: Editing, Black and White

The Scanning Project

1) Introduction

The aim of this continuing series is to describe my experiences and hopefully encourage you to start your own scanning project. I will cover topics such as editing for scanning, working with various film types and formats, using flatbed and “dedicated” film scanners, and different software programs. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

This project is not aimed at archivists at large institutions who have access to very high end scanning systems, but is more suited to those with medium-size image collections who want to digitize their film work within a budget and with equipment that does not require an advanced degree to operate. It is also aimed at those who remain dedicated to film capture but want to output on inkjet printers or for web albums. The procedures discussed are also useful for small museums, historical societies and collectors who have  negatives, prints and even glass plates and want to preserve and perhaps enhance those images.

Like many folks who made photos during the film days, I disassembled my darkroom years back. I contributed the equipment to schools that still teach the chemical craft. 

Yet, I still had boxes and sleeves with transparencies and black and white negatives and slides of various formats that might not ever see the light of a print again—were it not for the ability to scan and digitize the images for web publishing and inkjet printing.

This scan from a 5x7 glass plate negative purchased at a flea market was made on a flatbed scanner using the “negative” scan mode, which converted it to a positive image, which was then processed to enhance contrast and clean up flaws in the emulsion. Photographer: Unknown.

Somehow I felt I owed it to the work done and time spent and visions captured to at least make the effort to transfer them to a medium that allowed me to both re-explore the work and manifest it in some fashion. While my main medium during those film days was black and white negatives, I also had lots of slides in both 35mm and medium format, and a scattering of color negatives and some chromogenic film (film that could be processed in color chemistry yet that lacked color dye layers so it was essentially a black-and-white medium.)

As I considered this task it became clear to me that this was not something I could do in a week or even a year. I have been photographing for almost 40 years and amassed a large collection of images. I had thankfully done culling throughout those years, yet I was still confronted by thousands of images in different formats and film types. The ones I kept were for sentimental reasons, because I thought they were good images that defined my vision and photographic quests, and simply because I just couldn’t make up my mind whether to keep or chuck them on my edit go-rounds.

That’s when the importance of editing became apparent to me, and while this is personal to each and every photographer it is an essential part of the process. (I can only imagine what future photographers will face when confronted in the future with the horde of digital images they have made.) I was never shy about using film and shooting a brick of film (20 rolls) on various stock and assignment jaunts, but digital encourages overshooting, what with the erase-ability of memory cards and high framing rates and super-automation that makes it all a pushbutton affair.

Luckily, in my past position as editor of various photo magazines, I had access to and tested numerous types of scanners and software along the way. During that period I would spend an intense week or more with each type of scanner and software and learn their capabilities and foibles to write my reviews and articles. But I never quite had the time to take on the “big project” of addressing all my past images, although the lessons learned during that time served as a good basis for the task at hand.

Next posting: An Outline of the Project