Photographing a negative

Asha

Asha

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Asha
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I'm hoping I've posted this in the right section.
The photo is not for critic...I simply need some advice.
I only have facilities to scan film upto 9x12cm format.
Earlier this year I managed to obtain some larger format film for the larger format cameras that I have.
Instead of completely wasting the first sheet of whole plate film to see if my adaptation to the darkslide of the camera would work , I decided to just "go for it" and chance a photo.
Nothing very imaginative...It is an image on my computer screen of the camera that i was taking the shot with!
I did have some "technical" problems but nonetheless an image did emerge.
Putting aside the light entry, my next problem was how to scan this size film.
Having so far being unable to locate anywhere locally that can scan film larger than 4x5, I decided to attempt a photo of the negative by placing it on a lightbox, shooting a digital shot then inverting it to a positive through Photoshop.
This is the result with no retouch:

dsc0040scannedinverted.jpg

Shot at 2012-01-14

As I expected the result is much softer than the negative and of course what a scanned version would come out like.
Has anyone else transferred negatives to positives in this way with more acceptable results or am I destined to buy a V700 ???
 
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Asha, that's the way I started, putting negs on a light box and photographing them. Its not easy and a bit hit and miss.
If you want a comparison give me a shout and perhaps mail me a couple of negs and I'll scan for you (V750)

Mat
 
Marvin d martian said:
Asha, that's the way I started, putting negs on a light box and photographing them. Its not easy and a bit hit and miss.
If you want a comparison give me a shout and perhaps mail me a couple of negs and I'll scan for you (V750)

Mat
Click to expand...

Thank you for your offer.....much appreciated.
I've got a few outlets a little further afield to phone this week to see if they can scan LF......I expect I'll get the same replies as from the others when I tell them the size of the negs as they are whole and half plate size...therefore imperial not metric......according to the french 6.5" x 8.5" sheet film doesn't exist! lol
 
I suspect whilst shooting 6x6 on a light box was not too difficult, shooting 10x8 might provide a few other problems to overcome.
You have to shoot it in the dark, you need a mask that isolates the film edges completely from the light box, and it needs to be flat.
If you can do that I don't see why you can't get a reasonable copy.

I only ever shot 6x6 slide this way, the thing I noticed was it was difficult to get the intensity of light right from the light box, so that the digital camera could have a decent stab at capturing the detail in the blacks and the highlights that I could see with my eyes.
As is the digital way, your either blowing the highlights or losing detail in the blacks.
This may be more prevalent with slide since its supposed to be projected but I think you will have this issue to some degree with any film.
 
joxby said:
you need a mask that isolates the film edges completely from the light box,.
Click to expand...

This is the bit I didn't do ....Thanks to you, I now realise how the surrounding light will of course have an adverse effect on the final image taken by the dslr.

Thank you for your advice...I'll be on the hunt for some black card tomorrow to make a suitable mask!
 
I bought a black plastic a4 folder from staples, cut the ring binder out and cut it in half, then Stanley knifed a 6x6 square out of it.
You might need something bigger than a4..but it stays pretty flat, not so cardboard/paper.:)
 
matt black "foamboard" should work ok - it's 2-3mm thick, but you can cut a "bevel mount" aperture in it, and the board's just about heavy enough to pin the neg to the lightbox.
 
Try post processing with some overlay layers, dodging & burning in Photoshop?
That's what I did with some thin-looking converted pin hole work during college.
 
IamAshlyRose said:
Try post processing with some overlay layers, dodging & burning in Photoshop?
That's what I did with some thin-looking converted pin hole work during college.
Click to expand...

Thanks Ashly..I may give that a try along with the other ideas already mentioned although I'm not really a dab hand with photoshop.
 
In Photoshop, if you go to Layer → New Layer a small box should open. In the drop down menu under 'mode' select Overlay. A button should appear underneath saying "Fill with Overlay neutral colour (50% grey)" & tick that box. Add the layer. You can then work with the brush tool to highlight or darken certain areas using either black or white. Obviously, black to darken an area, white to highlight. You can create contrasts & fill it in where it needs it. I'd recommend using your brush on a low opacity as it blends much better as your working. Hope this helps? Best wishes.
 
IamAshlyRose said:
In Photoshop, if you go to Layer → New Layer a small box should open. In the drop down menu under 'mode' select Overlay. A button should appear underneath saying "Fill with Overlay neutral colour (50% grey)" & tick that box. Add the layer. You can then work with the brush tool to highlight or darken certain areas using either black or white. Obviously, black to darken an area, white to highlight. You can create contrasts & fill it in where it needs it. I'd recommend using your brush on a low opacity as it blends much better as your working. Hope this helps? Best wishes.
Click to expand...

Cool thanks for that Ashly.....I've just had a quick look on photoshop following your instructions...seems straight forward enough...Perhaps a little time consuming though??...perhaps something to do with me being a novice at this retouching game! lol
I'll have a dabble at it anyways and see what results I get.
 
It's not too bad once you've got started.
Even using it just to add some contrast with the black & a large brush size would improve the thinness?
Best wishes! & Have fun experimenting hahaha :}
 
An update on my progress:
It has taken me an age to find somewhere here that sells matt black foamboard.
Didn't help that I had no idea what it was called in French!! lol
Anyway I've picked up a small piece to experiment with.
I've decided to try a quarter plate sized neg that i am also able to scan conventionally....That way I can make a comparison between the results.
I'll post up the results when I get them done!
 
I have used panchromatic 5 x4 sheet film to make an 'interneg' (internegative) in the past.

It was quite a few years ago now and I cant remember the whole process in full but I think I put either a 35mm / 120mm negative in to the De Vere 504 enlarger and exposed the negative onto a sheet of 5' x 4' film and processed it using Kodak D19 high contrast developer, 7 minutes @ 23 degrees celsius.

Hope that helps. Please bear in mind that I haven't tied this since about 1984 and can't remember the full process but I will give it some thought.

Good luck with your endeavours (y)
 
I would guess you need a rather long lens to keep the corners sharp. I tried taking photos of 35mm negatives with macro extensions and they ended up pretty soft in the corners but alright in the center.
 
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