FDanB@aol.com
Date: 04/11/00-09:42:37 AM Z
Another way to "color correct" a scan is to borrow from an "old" color
printing technique. Shoot a picture that includes a gray card. After
scanning in Photoshop, open either Levels or Curves and use the MIDDLE
eyedropper tool to click on the gray card. This eyedropper is what I call
a "color null" tool because it removes any color cast from wherever you
click it. Click it on a known NEUTRAL like your official gray card and it
instantly color corrects the image. You can then "Save" these settings to
apply to your other images shot on the same film under the same lighting
conditions.
That middle eyedropper has lots of power so it's a good idea to learn its
uses anyway.
Once you get the color right, you may want to consider adjusting contrast
in LAB mode (Image>Mode>LAB). I won't go into detail about nerdy LAB
adjustments (mostly because I don't understand them myself) but the
important thing to know is that the image tonality (as opposed to color)
is stored in the "Lightness" channel. If you use Curves on the Lightness
Channel to fine tune tonality, you don't introduce the weird color shifts
that can happen in RGB mode. It's really easy once you try it (it has to
be or I wouldn't use it) and once you have the tonality the way you want
it, you can convert back to RBG (or CMYK if you were going to press) to
print your image.
As a side bar, I'm testing a Nikon 990 camera and it's so good that I
just sold my little Contax Tvs camera on eBay. For "carry everywhere"
shooting, it's time to go digital!
Good luck with your color correction!
Dan
Dan Burkholder
P.O. Box 111877
Carrollton, TX 75011-1877
USA
972-242-9819
fax 972-242-9651
danphoto@aol.com
www.danburkholder.com
Author of the book nobody should be without:
"Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing."
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