Re: filmscanners: Vuescan and Overexposed Negs

[Stephen Jennings <sgjennin@ix.netcom.com>]

Arthur, thank you for the excellent advice,  but I'm not quite sure how to
make different exposures using Vuescan.  Adjusting the Gamma didn't seem to
affect the blown out white; changing the white point to 0 didn't seem to
make a difference either.  Am I missing something?  How do I bring down the
exposure so that I can bring out the detail in the whites?

STEPHEN    JENNINGS
    P h o t o g r a p h e r
       Cambridge, MA
sgjennin@ix.netcom.com

> 
> I assume this image is on negative film, because if it is on slide film,
> the detail is gone forever if it isn't visible on the film.
> 
> If it is on neg, your detail is probably there, but the overexposure of
> the whites makes for a very dense area on the neg.  You need to expose
> for those areas while scanning, which will probably cause the middle and
> dark areas to get too dark.  You might wish to make two scans at
> different "exposures" and then using a photo manipulation program, like
> PS, layer them.  One of the easiest ways to fix this is to place the
> "blown out" dress image (which has good exposure otherwise) on top, and
> the one with the good dress detail underneath.  Then, set your erase
> tool to 15-25% using a soft edged brush and slowly remove the upper
> layer in the area of the dress allowing the detail version to come
> through.  This way you can control each area of the dress, and bring up
> the detail just to the point it looks best to you.  If the dress from
> the lower level doesn't look oddly exposed in itself, you can use the
> erase tool at nearly 100%, and just erase the blown version that is on
> top, for a quicker result.
> 
> Art