The evolution of one photograph, from negative scan to final digital file
What follows is a brief illustration at how I arrived at a final printed digital image, begining with a negative. Though different photographs sometimes call for different approaches, this is generally how I work in the "digital darkroom" to achieve a final print. Hope it is of some use.
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My only goal in the scan is to make certain that I get all of the detail I will want in the highlights and shadows of the photograph, so that I have the necessary information. I can then begin the dodging and burning, and the contrast manipulations.
The absolute first thing I do after scanning a negative is to spot it to remove the dust marks, and any water marks that may have been left from development. Once the image is spotted, I then save the raw scan and then begin a new file, where all of my manipulations will take place. Although I try to do all manipulations in a non-destructive fashion, I like to keep the original scan (already spotted) as a seperate file.
The second step I perform is to sharpen the image, as all scanners will introduce softness to an image scan; particularly a flatbed scanner, such as the Epson 2450 which I used for this negative.
There are many sharpening tools available from a variety of manufacturers and, of course, there is the unsharp masking filter in Photoshop® itself. I have experience with PixelGenius' PhotoKit Sharpener and found it to perform well. Your mileage may vary.
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There are many ways to mask off a section of an image in order to perform adjustments on only that area. In this case, I used the 'Quick Mask" feature in Photoshop® to highlight the bottom part of the image (the masked part is black in the image on the left).
The important things is to select an appropriate 'feather' amount, depending upon the image and it's pixel dimensions, which will avoid the appearance of a line that will give away that dodging and burning, or changes in local contrast, have been performed. In the traditional darkroom, the equivalent was how close you placed your dodging tool (or your hand) to the enlarging lens. The closer to the lens, the less severe the penumbra.
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By then selecting the area that was shown in black in the previous image, I now have a selection that I can perform changes on that will not affect the other parts of the image. I always use Adjustment Layers in Photoshop CS® to perform contrast and levels changes. The reason for this is that everything I do to the image now will destroy pixels, and I need a way that can preserve the original scan and all of it's information, in case I want to revert some changes, or tweak at a later date for a particular output device or paper choice.
The use of Adjustment Layers allows me to perform whatever contrast and levels changes I want on a new layer that leaves the original layer untouched.
As you can see by comparing the image above to the first image on this page, I've boosted the contrast and adjusted the levels to more pleasing levels for the bottom half of the photograph. Now for the top half... { continue }
