Lumière d’Argent

Last year, Colin Jago talked on his blog of an interesting software for negative scanners: Colorneg.

I downloaded the trial version and gave it a go. It did indeed produce fine results but at that stage I was reluctant to add yet another software. Moreover, at the time, I was not really using film all that much.

Since then I have started again to use my Leica and so the question of B&W film scanning and processing became current for me too.

For digital processing, depending on my inconsistency among other things, I currently use Aperture, Photoshop CS3, Bibble Pro, QuadtoneRIP and some nice PhotoShop plugins.  Still reluctant to add yet another software piece, I tried different things. Clearly, VueScan is best at driving my Epson scanner. Its B&W output is adequate but not exactly great and the control it offers does not suit me. Besides, I like the idea of scanning to RAW. I find the curves to apply to VueScan RAW files quite steep and I produced unwanted effects that way.

I then noticed the DNG option in VueScan. It produces a DNG raw file, just ready for Adobe Camera Raw. That software was designed precisely to do what I need: correctly map a gamma 1 file to the more useful gamma 2.2 or 1.8 or whatever is in QTR Lab space. It works beautifully. The trick to invert the picture in ACR is to use the point curve, select the Linear setting and invert its slope. The controls in ACR allow to produce a very good starting point for further finishing in PhotoShop.

Stephane :: Oct.19.2008 :: Film, Scanning, Software :: No Comments »

Apple has disclosed their new laptops. In a word, this is rubbish.

The most annoying aspect is of course the glossy only screens. And not merely glossy like the previous Macbook was. No, this is glass, like the iMac. I just got a new iMac. The reflections are terrible. Since it is a desktop, I can tailor the environment and position the computer so that reflections do not appear. Not so with a laptop, contrarily to what an Apple executive said in an interview.

Apple also dropped all Firewire 400 ports from the new laptops. It means the Macbook has no Firewire and the Macbook Pro only has Firewire 800. Now, I don’t know, this saves what? $2 per machine to Apple? Let’s get crazy and make it $10 per machine. For the customers, this is a royal blunder. All the consumer video camera which use iLink (Firewire) to communicate with a computer are not impossible to connect to a Macbook. Nice move!

All the Firewire 400 peripherals will now need a special cable to connect to a MacBook Pro. This will also create inconvenience to people who wish to connect two Firewire devices to their Macbook Pro while on the road. Then I look at the Macbook Pro price and I wonder.

Who again brought Firewire to the market and explained everyone how superior it was? Apple. Go figure.

This is arrogance, complacency and, again, corporate stupidity.

Apple seems to think they don’t need the creative professional market anymore. The very market that kept them half afloat during their worst days. They choose to do so during the golden opportunity Microsoft gave them with the Vista disaster. Apple might find out, too late, that a large number of professionals will decide they can do without Apple. Especially if Windows 7 turns out to be half good.

Those glass screens are just a fashion thing. Apple is giving substance to arguments saying their product are all about looks.

The most immediate consequence for me is to make me feel uncomfortable to depend on Aperture. I might reconsider that.

Stephane :: Oct.18.2008 :: Gear, Software :: No Comments »

Lurking around some film forums, I find a number of threads about airport X-rays fears. I would have thought the matter was settled a long time ago.

In a word: they are harmless.

The films will get more rays in the cabin during the flight than from the inspections. Heck, they even get more ray just sitting on the ground.

That’s for carry-on luggage. Checked-in baggage gets scanned by much more powerful rays and they are deadly for film. So, always carry your film with you and it will be safe.

Protection cases are a bad idea. For carry-on luggage the operator just increases the power until he/she sees through the case. For checked-in baggage it will most likely result in manual baggage inspection.

Stephane :: Aug.13.2008 :: Film, Locations :: 2 Comments »

Power Retouche is a collection of 25 PhotoShop plugins that will, in my opinion, appeal to fine art photographers. The collection covers many image corrections and all the ones I have used have proved particularly well tuned. The quality they provide is excellent, up there with the best well known.

They are available individually or as the complete pack. I got the whole lot several years ago. Recently I emailed the author for an update and noticed there are many new ones.

The pic above uses the one called Radial Density. If it was named vignetting more people would understand immediately what it does. I suppose the author called it that way because vignetting is actually something entirely different.

Anyway, that plugin does borders shading (or burning in darkroom-speak) very easy and very well.

The plugins can be used as smart filters in CS3, yet augmenting their power. Click here to see how to activate that feature.

Stephane :: Aug.10.2008 :: Software :: No Comments »

Many things going on photographically:

• got an Olympus E-3 with its seemingly obligatory 12-60mm zoom. Works amazingly well.
• went through a printing session that made me want to shoot some film again (above is HP5+)
• ordered chemicals, film and the few items I needed to develop
• shot very little recently but still have a backlog of the Spring shootings to process

Stephane :: Aug.09.2008 :: Film, Gear, Lens, Photography, Random Thoughts, Scanning, Software :: No Comments »