figured out a new way to scan and edit. a "linear scan." i do not know what that means, but it involved scanning the piece of film without the scanning software making any modifications. so if you scan a negative, it's like a super detailed photo of the negative. if it's a positive, it does nothing to tighten up than positive in anyway. you do it all in post in whatever post program you may use, photoshop myself.
in addition, i have access to a new high end scanner. currently manufactured scanners are garbage except for hasselblads which are $20k. all professional film scanners are vintage electronics equipment, which is a pain in the ass. before moving i had made friends with an employee at the lab i used for developing, and he scanned my rolls (as high res tiffs) with his through their lab scanner. this worked pretty well but not for all film types, definitely not for positive/slide film. and it wouldn't do medium format. this new scanner that you can pay by the hour to use at a nonprofit is a kodak creo. it's a flatbed, which at first i was doubtful of, but it's solid.
i was talking to the executive director at the nonprofit and she made mention of "linear scans." so i came in the next day to use it and a lab assistant showed me how to use it. the process was like a consumer flatbed. but i peaked at some of the folders on the desktop and they were scanning unmodified. so i asked about it and he said that's not the way to do it and then his coworker disagreed and then the lab director came in and said it's great but unnecessary. so i tried it with a frame and pulled it into photoshop and it's so much better.
then at home i figured out a whole new way to color correct these scans once they inverted. by going into levels and tightening them each channel or whatever red, green, and blue are called. instead of just using the color balance sliders (though i still go in after and create a layer that way too).
the end product exceeds the quality of the fuji lab scanner and gives much, much more user control. an example ...
the halation is because it's cinestill. it's 35mm motion film converted for still. they remove the anti-halation layer because it fucks up in c-41 processing. the white spots are dust i didn't bother to remove is ps because i'm not gonna print that photo or do anything more with it. it's just the first photo off the roll (that wasn't burned by light during loading). some of the later shots will even better illustrate this technique's potential.
and here's an example of fujifilm velvia 100, which previously i considered completely unscannable. still looks a billion times better projected, but ...
here's the same slide the the fuji lab scanner, which is an amazing scanner ...
i'm not so much talking about the purple cast as that can be fixed in ps -- in a way, you can correct but the results won't be like the actual slide -- but the shadow detail. the fuji scanner can't handle the slide shadows around her face or with the purple dresses hanging in the left corner. though looking at it now i see the fuji did a way better job with the highlight details like the pink dress and gemstones.
so i take it back. the creo ruins slides too. fuck scanning slide film. it just doesn't work. neither of these look like the projected slide. the fuji destroys the shadows and the creo destroys the highlights. even if the filled in each others' weaknesses, it would still pales in comparison to the actual look of velvia film. i do figure some of this is user error, but digital as a medium hurts photography. some swear by print, but i say projection is the most beautiful.
they have a drum scanner at this lab too, which i'd never seen in person before. maybe that can do slide film.
anyway. this lab should be a good thing. meeting other analog photographers and learning print and scan techniques from them will allow me to improve at a much faster rate then the bubble in which i've been trying to figure things out. plus they have professional equipment you can use yourself.