But before you jump in, you need to know the top 3 problems are when scanning slides.
If you're not sure what your editing and why, you'll be wasting more time.
Why?
Because every slide scan is different. And if you just start editing scans willy-nilly, you'll ruin the final image.
Here's what you need to know...
When you look at a slide in the light the colours look great. But the minute you scan it, the colours look nothing like the original. They look flat, dull, and unnatural.
Why does the slide look good, but not the slide scan?
Because scanning isn't perfect. Your machine is taking an analog image and converting it to digital. There is going to be some issues. For example...
Take a look at your slide up close. You'll see gloss coming off the film surface. This gloss (light bouncing off the film) is also scanned. And what happens is, you get this "filmy" look over your scan.
So it doesn't matter if you kept your slides in good condition, or if your slides are only 5 years old -- this gloss is going to make your scans look flat.
Have a look...
See how the Normal Scan looks flat, and the colours don't look natural? This is easily fixed in Photoshop. Here's how...
Get Full Tutorial On How To Fix Colours Using GIMP, Click Here...Take a slide up to a light source, like a lamp. You'll have no problems seeing peoples faces. But sometimes when you scan, the lighting isn't right. What I mean is, the scan can either be too bright or too dark.
Again, scanner's aren't perfect. The light source in your scanner can be too bright sometimes -- making your scans look blown out (too bright). Or the light source can make your scans look too dark (details hidden in shadows.)
Have a look...
Exposure and levels are easy to fix in GIMP. Here's how...
Get Full Tutorial On How To Fix Exposure Levels Using GIMP, Click Here...Again, if you look at your slide in the light, it looks great. But when you scan it, you're going to see ALL those minute dust and scratches your naked eye couldn't see.
A lot of the dust can be cleaned before you scan (see my Basic Slide Scan Tips).
But sometimes, over time, the dust becomes permanent. You see, your slides were "printed" using what is called emulsion. Emulsion is a chemical dye. And over time, this chemical dye will erode, crack, eat up dust, etc. You won't see this with the naked eye, but your scanner will.
Have a look...
Your scanner will scan minute dust and scratches that you won't see with the naked eye. Here's a step-by-step guide to fix this using GIMP...
Get Full Tutorial On How To Fix Dust and Scratches Using GIMP, Click Here...Here's those full tutorials again...
Step 1: Fix Dull, Flat, Unnatural Colours Using GIMP
Step 2: Adjust Exposure Levels Using GIMP
Step 3: Remove Dust And Scratches Using GIMP
Which of these scanning troubles do you want to overcome?
Hey, my name is Konrad. I've been scanning professionally since 2005. I've helped multi-billion dollar companies, pro sports teams, pro photographers, artists, museums, book publishers, etc. I've scanned over 930,000 slides, negatives, photos.
The reason I'm telling you this is because no matter what challenge or frustration you're having, I know exactly what you're going through. So, to help you RIGHT NOW, I've put together a super simple scanning guide to get you started.