Adobe Community: Convert color negatives to positives

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1. R_Kelly,

Mar 8, 2012 5:46 PM in reply to george594

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Can you post an example?

It takes a little more work than just inverting the negative.

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2. photodrawken,

Mar 8, 2012 6:54 PM in reply to george594

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If you have a lot of film negatives, it would be worth your while to invest in a film scanner. You'll get better quality images than from a CamCorder (?!?), and the software included with the scanner should have settings for automatically converting the negatives into positives.

Ken

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3. photodrawken,

Mar 8, 2012 7:32 PM in reply to george594

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OK, I found a colour negative image to practice on, and here's the drill:

Use Enhance...Adjust Lighting...Levels.
Select the "White Point" eyedropper:

and click in an area near the sprocket holes that is the "base" orange colour to remove the orange cast.
Use Ctrl+I to invert the image.

Ken

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4. george594,

Mar 8, 2012 9:24 PM in reply to photodrawken

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Thank you I will try that. I guess I need to copy the negative with some of the sprocket holes with the orange are contained in the image.

Bill Miller

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5. george594,

Mar 8, 2012 9:27 PM in reply to photodrawken

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My budget is like my money tree is a brown shrub.

I hope I can use this new device I found on the web. Check it out at< shotcopy.com>.

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6. george594,

Mar 8, 2012 9:38 PM in reply to R_Kelly

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I will have to find out how to do that. I am not that good on how to post. Just downloaded Element 10 from Apple. I have an IMAC and I love it. I was a PC guy for many years. I have been dealing with photography since I was 12 years old. (Now 73) Was in charge of Periscope photography on one of our Nuc Submarines.

I thank you for your attention and hope to hear from you again.

Bill Miller (George is my middle name) call me Bill

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7. Barbara B.,

Mar 8, 2012 9:42 PM in reply to george594

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To post an image here, come to the website (can't do it by email) and click the camera button above the message composition area,

then navigate to the photo you want to post.

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8. photodrawken,

Mar 8, 2012 9:54 PM in reply to george594

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Exactly right. If you've got that area around the sprocket holes to use as your "base" orange to set the white point (and thus remove the orange cast), you're home free.

Ken

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9. george594,

Mar 8, 2012 9:54 PM in reply to Barbara B.

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Thanks I will try in morning. Time for some Zzzzz

bill

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10. Barbara B.,

Mar 9, 2012 8:08 AM in reply to george594

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Even if you don't have a film scanner, check the software that came with your scanner. It may have a way to remove the orange mask. Also, if you google "color negatives to positives Photoshop Elements" you'll find some tutorials using various methods.

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11. george594,

Mar 9, 2012 9:59 AM in reply to Barbara B.

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Thank you for your help. I have tried some of the methods with success.

Bill

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12. Bob Ward,

Mar 9, 2012 1:59 PM in reply to george594

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I have an Epson 4990 Photo scanner, which has the capability to scan color negatives. I just started using this feature today, even though I have had the scanner for over 6 years. I am finding that you have to set the scan resolution very high to get a crisp result. I am assuming that this is due to the fact that we are scanning a very small target (the film negative), so when you enlarge the resulting photo, it gets pixilated unless you scan at a high resolution. I am currently using 2400 dpi as a scan resolution and am getting reasonable results. The resulting JPEG files are around 4.5 Mb in size.

I am going to experiment with some higher scan resolutions and see how much improvement in image quality I get, and, to see how much the file size increases.

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13. photodrawken,

Mar 9, 2012 2:16 PM in reply to george594

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Hi Bill,

Glad to hear you're getting some good results!

Ken

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14. Bob Ward,

Mar 9, 2012 2:53 PM in reply to Bob Ward

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I just did a comparison scan at 4800dpi and could not see any image clarity difference from the 2400 dpi scan. However, the file size increased by a factor of 4.

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15. heymrbill,

Jul 25, 2012 12:34 PM in reply to george594

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In Elements 10 and using a Mac you can invert color negatives to color positives by going to FILTER -> ADJUSTMENTS -> INVERT

..or simpler yet just hit Command I

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16. photodrawken,

Jul 25, 2012 3:49 PM in reply to heymrbill

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No you can't -- that leaves a positive image with a heavy cyan colour cast. Read this entire discussion.

Ken

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17. heymrbill,

Jul 26, 2012 2:18 PM in reply to photodrawken

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Not being the professional here and thus not knowing what I "can't" do, but rather just going ahead and playing with Elements 10 on my Mac, can on occasion be somewhat gratifying.

For anyone interested I will follow through on my above comment using the two sets of examples below, same procedure for both:

Using a homemade sunlight box and my little Panasonic Lumix Camera (sharp pics from 2 about inches away) I snapped the pictures of the color negatives and then I brought the now digitalized color negatives into Elements 10.

Next I...

cropped the negative image to desired size.

Hit COMMAND I (This inverts the image with a strong cyan color cast)

then go to:

LAYER -> duplicate layer (always a good habit to get into)

ENHANCE -> Auto Color Correction ...or... -> Adjust Color -> Remove Color Cast ...or.... Adjust Color For Skin Tones (or just play with it.. have fun with it.. see what can be done and what can't be done for real.)

and finally ENHANCE -> Adjust Lighting -> Brightness/Contrast to your personal preference.

Then either save for the web to put onto a CD or DVD or print it out. It may not professionally perfect, nor work as good as a $700 scanner, but it certainly works well enough for me.... Good luck to all. bill