Many photographers have either moved into digital photography exclusively or use both analog and digital media in their work. In either case, there is sure to be an archive of slides and negatives that cannot be directly integrated into the new digital workflow, nor can it be archived in a digital format. Increasingly, photographers are trying to bridge this gap with the use of high-performance film scanners.
In this 2nd Edition, you will learn how to achieve the best possible digital image from a negative or slide, and how to build a workflow to make this process efficient, repeatable, and reliable.
The author uses Nikon's film scanners, but all steps can easily be accomplished while using a different scanner. The most common software tools for scanning (SilverFast, VueScan, NikonScan) are not only covered extensively in the book, but are also provided on a DVD, which also contains other useful tools for image editing, as well as numerous sample scans.
1 Introduction 3
2 Performance Characteristics of Film Scanners 23
3 Scanning Film 53
4 File Formats 65
5 Color Management in Theory and Practice 81
6 Scanning Methods 99
7 Scanning Correction Filters in Detail 107
8 Configuring the Scanning Software 123
9 Nikon Scan 143
10 VueScan 161
11 SilverFast 173
12 Scan Worklflows 187
13 Nikon Capture NX 2 195
14 Correcting with Photoshop and Photoshop Plug-ins 211
15 Backup 225
Glossary 233
Resources 235
Index 237
DVD 240
Sascha Steinhoff is a computer expert by training and a photographer by passion. He used several rainy seasons in Galway, Ireland to learn everything he needed to know about scanners and scanning software. He soon realized that a good scan requires as much work and know-how as a good camera shot, and that a scanning workflow is essential to get the job done efficiently.
Sascha recently gave up his position as an editor of a leading German technical magazine to move to Bangkok, Thailand, where he is currently working as a freelance journalist and project manager. Complementary information about the scanning techniques described in this book, as well as as a place where Sascha will reply to readers' inquiries, can be found on his website at http://scanguru.info/en/home/