B&W Negatives c1961

[Gadget]

Kia

I'm just doing a scan of some large format negs on my very old  Agfa scanner which I have up here.
They seem to look fine from the preview.

I'll report the results shortly.

It might work for you if they are large format.


Gadget

[Gadget]

Here's an example. i scanned them at 400% and 300dpi as a normal photo - making sure i had a white background.

I then changed them to positive in my software.

This is a 15% version of what i did - ignore the photo, it was the first large format neg that  I found.


gadget

[Just Kia]

Going to have a look and a play around.
Hubby's got a superbright white led torch somewhere - will see if that can help at all.

[Just Kia]

That came out rather good!
I tried doing them as regular B&W and colour images but maybe the negs themselves just aren't great.

[Gadget]

Post one here to see what they're like.

Added - all that searching for large format negs has produced a treasure chest of photos - my Mum in her 80s and some North Wales and Highland landscapes 

[Just Kia]

Ooh sorry Gadget didn't realise there had been another reply.
I meant yours came out rather good!
I got a couple of really clear ones - like the happy young lads and others not so clear like the outdoor public paddling pool one.
From the same negs so I guess it must be that the original pics were of varying quality too.

[Gadget]

Hi Kia

It looks as if the first one has a lot of compression on it (see example). Did you save it without any compression - png files are much bigger than jpg dimension for dimension - I don't think it's worth saving as png.

Also, the negative has gathered dust and stuff over the years - you can get puffers to clean them or a negative wipe from specialist photographic shops.


Gadget

[Just Kia]

I saved the original (1300x1300px @ 600dpi) scans as .tif to avoid compression, but shrunk and saved as .png for putting up here (to reduce file size).
I'm really impressed with the detail you've bought out in it though.
If you don't mind my asking what program are you using and what did you do? I usually use paint shop pro, but also have photoshop.

[Gadget]

I adjusted the levels. For this one I used PS CS2. I also have PSP XI and (I think PSP 7 or 8 )

You can do it it in PSP.  What version do you have?

To do this, select levels and move the pointers for the darkest and lightest parts of the photo until you have an image that you feel is 'right' You can also adjust the middle pointer(grey). Alternatively, you can use Curves to give you better control on the overall tone of the image.

Gadget