about film

About Film

There is still an on-going (and annoying) debate in the photography community about Film vs. Digital.

Frankly, both products have their advantages and once these are identified it can be much easier to

select the right tool for the right job. I shoot both film and digital cameras for a wide range of images,

and I find significant advantages for each. The images in my book were captured with both

technologies; about 50/50 film to digital. I won’t add to this generally useless debate, but in this

document, I will add some comments on how to scan film and some techniques for editing film to

soften the appearance of grain.

I believe the main advantages of film are 1) sheet film (4x5 and up) provides a relatively easy and

inexpensive option for very high resolution images; and 2) film grain provides an excellent aesthetic

for photographic images, especially when high speed is necessary. I believe the main disadvantage of

film is it must be scanned to make it accessible to the digital darkroom (and I like the advantages of

the digital darkroom).

Scanning

When scanning, I generally suggest that you keep it simple. Use the scanning software to make a high-

resolution, accurate scan of the image on the film. Leave most of the density and color correction work

for Photoshop. Interestingly, I find that the most difficult part of scanning is often to keep the scanning

software from adding its own editing to the image. For the most part, you should ensure that auto

correction options are disabled (where possible) in your scanning software. Photoshop almost always

provides more accurate tools for image correction than the scanning software.

The basic workflow for scanning is:

• Run the scanning software

• Capture a preview scan

• Ensure that the scanning software doesn’t do any auto contrast levels adjustments

• Adjust the exposure setting of the scanner to get a good exposure

• Set the scanner to scan at 16-bits per channel

• Set the scanner to scan at it’s native resolution

• Use dust removal if available

© Brad Hinkel, 2005 1

FOCAL EASY GUIDE TO PHOTOSHOP ABOUT FILM

The software for every type of scanner is different. I will provide example from NikonScan which is

provided with all Nikon scanners. I will discuss some issues found with other scanning software, and

will discuss Vue Scan software at the end of this article.

Nikon Scan is a very good piece of software that works with all Nikon scanners. I especially like it

because it provides all the essential elements for scanning.

Run the Scanning Software

Most scanning software can be run from inside Photoshop; the software will be available by selecting

File > Import > Scanner Software; this opens the scanning software and directs the software to open

each scanned image into Photoshop.

You can also run the scanning software separately from Photoshop. When you scan an image, you will

need to direct the scanning software to save the image file to your hard drive so it can be opened

later by Photoshop. I do this, mostly so I have a version of the scanned image as it came directly from

the scanning software. Also, running Photoshop and the scanning software at the same time can be a

significant memory drain on most computers with less that one gigabyte of ram.

With Nikon scan, like most scanning software, it is best to ensure that the scanner is powered on and

connected to the computer before running the software. when you first run the scanning software, it

will communicate with the scanner and configure itself to the scanner’s best settings.

Capture a Preview Scan

The first basic step for most scanning software requires that you tell the software the type of scan you

want to make. The options generally include: Print vs Film, Positive vs Negative, and Color vs Black &

White. The Nikon scanners are generally for Film only (and don’t provide a print option) but many

flatbed scanners provide an option for scanning Prints or Film. Set the appropriate options.

For this example, I set the scanner to scan a Positive; and to scan in Color.

Set these basic settings and then press the Preview option.

Note: most scanning software includes all of these options, but the name make be slightly different.



The Preview scan will generally provide a fairly accurate scan at the first pass.

Ensure that the scanning software doesn’t do any auto adjustments

Many scanning software programs will also try to perform a number of auto adjustments on the image

in the scanning process. In general, I try to turn all of these off since Photoshop will do a better job. In

particular, you should ensure that the scanning software does not perform any auto levels adjustment

which may result in clipping of the highlights and shadows. Look for the histogram in the scanning

software and make sure that no auto level adjustment has been applied – if it has, you should remove

the adjustment.

The Nikon scan software does not make any levels adjustments unless you tell it.



Adjust the exposure setting of the scanner to get a good exposure

Even if the scanner does not adjust the levels, you should still take a close look at the histogram for

the preview image. In Nikon Scan, this is available on the Tool Palette under Curves. A good scan

should have a histogram that has all of its values between pure black and pure white.

The histogram for the preview above is too dark, the histogram is shifted too far left and some of the

pixels are pure black (these are completely over on the right side of the histogram). If you move your

mouse cursor over the preview image, the actually density of the pixels will be shown as a small circle

on the histogram. This is important, because many of the pixels that may appear as completely black

of completely white may be that way on the film – in this example, the preview scan includes the

edges of the film which are very dense and will always appear as pure black. Don’t worry about these

parts of the image.

But this preview scan is still too dark. Adjust the scanner exposure so that the image is brighter.

On most scanning software, this exposure adjustment is labeled something simple like exposure, or

hardware exposure. On the Nikon Scan software it is called the Analog Gain. The exposure adjustment

is essential to a good scan, since this is really a hardware exposure adjustment. On Nikon scanners this

adjustment changes how long each pixel is exposed to the light in the scanner – increasing the analog

gain increases the exposure (by increasing the exposure time). The exposure adjustment can bring

detail out in a scan that would otherwise be too dark or too light.



Find the exposure adjustment, and adjust it to change the preview scan. In Nikon Scan, this is

available under Analog Gain. Here if the scan is too dark, the histogram needs to be shifted towards

the left, so adjust the analog gain towards the left. Just make a modest adjustment and press the

preview option again to make another preview scan with the new exposure setting.

In this example, the image is brighter now and has a fairly good histogram. If you go too far, you will

blow out the image highlights.



Keep experimenting to get a histogram that fits well between the highlights and shadows. With some

experience, this is a fairly quick process.

Most scanners today have more than enough dynamic range to scan almost any piece of film and

provide a histogram that fits between the highlights and shadows. For most image, it is better to avoid

blown out highlights over overly dark shadows.

Adjusting the exposure, or analog gain is the main step for making a good scan.

Set the scanner to scan at 16-bits per channel

Most scanners today can scan at more than 8-bits per channel. As discussed in the book, the extra bits

per channel provide additional resolution for color and density in the image and make it much better

to perform various adjustments on the image in Photoshop. It is very important to set your scanner to

scan at more than 8-bits per channel.

Nikon scan is very honest about this and reports the Scan Bit Depth as an accurate 12 bits or 14 bits.

These are essentially the same as 16 bits per channel and will produce an image in Photoshop that has

16 bits per channel.

Most scanning software programs list the Scan Bit Depth as 16 bits per channel or even as 48 bits RGB

(for 16 bits Red, 16 bits Green & 16 bits Blue). These are all equivalent values. Note that very few



scanners can actually scan with a resolution of 16 bits per channel; but the values of more than 8 bits

per channel are generally sufficient.

Find the Scan Bit Depth for your scanner and set it to more than 8 bits per channel. In Nikon Scna this

is found under Scanner Extras.

Set the scanner to scan at it’s native resolution

Most scanners can only scan at a single resolution; the native resolution for that scanner. All other

resolution values require that the scanner interpolate the data to the new resolution from the native

resolution. For the most part, the scanning software is far inferior to Photoshop at interpolation. For

this reason, I recommend that you always set your scanning software to use the scanner’s native

resolution. This is usually available in the scanner’s documentation. For most of the Nikon film

scanners, the native resolution is 4000 pixels per inch.

Find the scan resolution and set it to the native resolution of the scanner. In Nikon Scan the scan

resolution is found under Crop on the Tool Palette.

4000 pixels per inch can create exceptionally large image files. Many people will resize these files to a

smaller and more usable size early in Photoshop. I often scan my images at 2000 pixels per inch (or a

whole fraction of the native resolution). These scans are still interpolated, but the mathematics for

interpolation in whole fractions is simple and accurate. Scanning at 2000 pixels per inch creates a file

that is ¼ the size and much easier to process.



Use dust removal if available

Many film scanners and a few flat bed scanners also include an option for automatic dust remove when

scanning film. You definitely need to ensure that your film is relatively clean with scanning it, but the

automatic dust removal option is a great tool. Most film will have some dust spots and using the

automatic dust removal will make the scanning process much easier. Turn this on if your scanner has it.

On the Nikon scanners this dust removal is called Digital ICE. The Digital ICE option can be found

under Digital ICE on the Tools Palette.

One warning, these dust removal tools do not work when scanning film that contains silver which

includes most black & white films and Kodak Kodachrome film. You should not use it for this film; the

tool ‘sees’ silver as a piece of dust and applies the dust removal everywhere in the image resulting in a

very blotchy scan.

Scan

Finally, you just need to scan.

After completing the scan, the image will either be scanned directly into Photoshop, or you will need

to save the file. Since the image was scanned at 16 bits per channel, you will need to save this as a TIF

file. Include ‘Scan’ in the file name to identify this as the original scan file. If possible, save this file as

read only, so it becomes a safe original.

About Film Grain

One of the main differences between film and digital cameras is the presence of grain in film. In fact,

much of the debate about Film vs. Grain revolves around film grain without often mentioning it. Digital

camera images shoot in good light with a low ISO will have very little noise and no grain. These

images generally appear sharper than similar images shot onto film because of the lack of grain. Film

images will have grain, but also retain the ability to resolve very fine details, usually finer than those

available in digital camera images. So the digital camera images often look sharper, but contain less

fine details.

Scanning also has the tendency to amplify the appearance of grain in film images. This is very

important, since it makes film images appear grainier in a digital file than they would appear in a direct

analog print. The amplification of film grain is caused by grain aliasing by the film scanner. You should

consider grain aliasing issues for any film that you intend on scanning.



Grain aliasing is less apparent in very fine grained films. In fact, most very fine grained films scan very

well and produce very sharp images. These include fine grained color transparency films and black &

white negative films. Most films with an ISO of 100 or less have a fine grain. Color negative films tend

to display significantly more grain than transparency or B&W films due to their higher sensitivity and

three independent color layers. Some of the best, ultra fine grain, color negative films are no longer

available, but Agfa ultra 100 and Kodak Portra 100T scan very well with little apparent grain.

Grain aliasing is also less apparent in films with very large grains. In particular, high speed (and grainy)

black & white negative films scan well and show lots of grain. I have had good luck scanning Kodak

TMax 3200 and Ilford Delta 3200; in fact, I have recently been developing these films in a way that

exaggerates the grain. Scanning grainy film produces an image with a strong grain aesthetic.

The biggest problems with grain are apparent when scanning moderate speed films black & white

films (ISO range 200 – 400), moderate and high-speed transparency films (ISO 200 and up), and most

color negative films. Scanning these films will tend to amplify the look of the grain.

Software for Reducing Grain

There are a number of good software tools available for reducing film grain. These are not available

directly in Photoshop, and must be purchased separately. Photoshop does contain a noise reduction

filter which works well on digital camera noise, but is less effective on film grain. Look for a tool that is

designed specifically for film grain since film grain looks very different than digital camera noise.

Many film scanners include support for Digital GEM to reduce the look of film grain. In fact, if your

scanner has support for Digital ICE, it likely also has support for Digital GEM. This is an excellent tool

for reducing the appearance of grain in scans, look to see if your scanner has this feature. I

recommend that you try it out, especially for difficult films (like color negative films).

You merely need to turn on Digital GEM in your scanning software, and set a level for how strongly to

apply the software. Like many effects in photography, it is usually more effect to apply the grain

reduction modestly, and reduce the appearance of grain, over trying to eliminate it all together. Try

using the lower to middle settings on the software first; the higher settings can make the entire image

appear soft.

Digital GEM is available from the Kodak Austin Development Center (www.asf.com) as a separate

Photoshop plug-in if you do not have it as part of your scanner software.



There are a number of other software products on the market for reducing film grain. Two that are

worthy to mention are Grain Surgery and Neat Image.

Grain Surgery from Visual Infinity (www.wisinf.com) provides a Photoshop plug-in for grain reduction. It

has good preset values for specific films and does and excellent job of grain reduction. Again, I

recommend using this type of product for reducing grain rather than eliminating it. Grain Surgery also

provides an excellent plug-in to add grain to an image and mimic the aesthetic of film grain.

Neat Image (www.neatimage.com) is an excellent noise reduction tool for both digital camera images

and scanned film images. The settings for reducing film grain work very well. This product has the

added benefit of supplying one of the best noise reduction tools for digital camera images.

Sharpening Film Images – Edge Sharpening

Because of the appearance of film grain in scanned images, you must be especially careful when

sharpening these images. The easier sharpening techniques available in Photoshop via the Smart

Sharpen or Unsharp Mask Filters will also accentuate film grain. For this reason, I recommend that you

use Edge Sharpening whenever you sharpen and image with visible film grain.

For Edge masks, we create a version of the image that just shows the edges of the image, create a

selection from this edge image, get rid of the edge image and create a layer mask from this selection

on the sharpen layer. With this technique, the sharpening only applies to the edges of the image.

Remember to sharpen the image only as the last step before printing.

To do this:

• You image should be flattened and resized for the final print size as part of the print prep

process.

• Duplicate the background layer; Layer > Duplicate Layer…, name this the ‘Sharpen Layer’ and

press OK to create the new layer.

• Duplicate the layer again; name this the ‘Edge Layer’


http://www.neatimage.com/


• The ‘Edge Layer’ should be the selected layer. Find the edges of the image using the Find

Edges filter; Filter > Stylize > Find Edges.

• Blur the edges; Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur; just soften the image; a radius of 2-10 works.

• Increase the contrast of the ‘Edge Layer’; using Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast. Select a

moderately high Contrast value like 70% to make the edges dark.



• Select the Shadows from the ‘Edge Layer’; use Select > Color Range… and chose shadows

from the select options. This provides a selection of the main edges in the original image.

• Turn off (or delete) the ‘Edge Layer’; you don’t want it in the image.

• Select the ‘Sharpen Layer’, and turn the selection we created from the Edge layer into a

selection. Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal Selection.



• Select the ‘Sharpen Layer’ clicking on the thumbnail for the sharpen layer (make sure the mask

for the ‘Sharpen Layer’ isn’t selected). Sharpen it using a standard sharpening technique like

Smart Sharpen or Unsharp Mask. The preview window will show the grain being sharpened as

well as the edges, but the mask localizes the sharpening. Now, the sharpness will only apply

to the edges in the image.



The Final Results


about film

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