Running through a series of very difficult half-frame neg scans ("limping"
through would be a better description),
two things come to mind:
<1> Why on earth didn't I think to include a *color card* in a series of
shots of artwork, which I certainly should have known enough to do,
and
<2> Why on earth don't Software Designers make better use of "Preferences"
menues?
I suspect most people on this list know which platform I came from
originally--good grief! But as I did this series of negs, flipping
back-and-forth from one program to another to try to get a decent balance of
color, intensity, and detail (with a lot of retouching on old, dusty, moldy,
degraded Kodacolor negs thrown in), the thing I noticed most was that "I
can't get these tools to work the way that I need them to work!"
Now if you think I'm a beginner on computer graphics, I'm not. I'm a
relative beginner on Windows and film scanning. I can draw with a mouse
nearly as well as I can draw with a pencil, and I even created some software
tools to help others do the same thing on another platform--be that as it
may.
But that platform had "Preferences." I don't know that they invented them,
but their developers USED them. I don't see very many other developers doing
the same, not in a real-world way. If I'm "off base," here, you're welcome
to tell me so.
Other programs have--or try to have, or seem to have--preferences with a
small "p"--little stuff that's either so insignificant or so hard-to-find
that it's nearly useless to the person who hasn't gone to school, doesn't
have the "Shortcuts" card (that's never included), or read the 580-page book
and memorized every word. That's not to say that the seminars and the books
aren't iminently useful, because they are. It's just to say that "Hey, I
have a job to do before Midnight Tuesday, and you're not *helping* me!!"
So, any potential or current Sofware Designers, please take note: a
"Preferences" menu and a reference card with as many things on it as you can
possibly think of, would be a blessing and a Godsend!
And what does *any* of this have to do with film scanning? Oh, you'll see,
Young Jedi, you'll see. ;-)
Let the Force be With You, and best regards--LRA
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