Challenge: Clean up this 45 year old slide.

[alfredo]

Let's see how nice you can make it. Original taken with Pentax Spotmatic and either Kodachrome or Agfachrome.




It was at least 100 maybe up around 110 degrees there. Massawa Eritrea is one of the hottest ports in the world. It swaps the honor with a Saudi port.

[JimDandy]

1. Why? What's the matter with it?

Obviously non-professional photographer here.

[alfredo]

2. This is for people to practice their editing skills and show them. There's a lot of dust

on the slide, and levels need to be tweaked. It isn't a real bad example, but there's enough to give one a chance to try things like the healing brush and other such tools.

[JimDandy]

5. Interesting. Thanks. n/t

[Stevenmarc]

3. Kind of a quick one

With the phone using Perfectly Clear and Snapseed. Didn't want to diddle too much and suck the vintage feel out of it.

[alfredo]

4. The yellows and the reds came out just fine. Good job.

Agfa was known for how well it worked for browns and golds. Agfa was perfect for the sub Sahara.

[Stevenmarc]

30. Went really vintage

With a bit of a tintype effect, if I had more data to work with I would have given an autochrome look a shot

[alfredo]

31. That is really nice.

[Stevenmarc]

33. Damn I forgot to tone it

[alfredo]

35. Even better.

[Stevenmarc]

37. And when

You have it printed on aluminum it really looks good

[alfredo]

38. I will have to see if I can find a GIMP plugin for that effect.

[Stevenmarc]

39. On the iPhone

It was 4 apps, Handy Photo used for the square crop and adding a little fill on the bottom, Oggl, for the tintype film emulation, Snapseed for various other exposure, contrast and structure adjustments and Geló for toning.

[alfredo]

40. I've never gone the smart phone route. I might some day.

[JohnnyRingo]

6. Let me try something different...

I'm sure someone will clean it up as well or better than I can, so I'm going to try to make it more appealing in an artistic sense:



For better or worse, there it is.

[alfredo]

9. And it hides the dust on the slide. That's a good way to deal with that issue.

[ManiacJoe]

7. Went with a slightly cooler tone.

Kept the vignetting to stay with the older feel.
Upped the brightness, contrast, and saturation via multiple NIK plug-ins.
Added some sharpening.
Did a little noise reduction on the sky and trees.
Maybe a bit too much in the saturation?

[alfredo]

10. Nice. What did you do to address the dust? Did the NR mask it?

Eritrea is a nation of warm tones, so it can stand a bit of cooling.

[ManiacJoe]

19. I think the noise reduction did mask the dust.

[alfredo]

22. That would make the process much easier.

[Johnny Noshoes]

8. Slide challenge

I used Elements and Nik plugins and tried to make the fix a subtle one.

[alfredo]

11. And your preserved the vintage look. Good

[alfredo]

12. My attempt

I adjusted the curves, used the healing brush, used the high pass filter for sharpening, and adjusted white balance. I just noticed a bit of dust I missed. I should have airbrushed that because the healing brush on the edge smears. I think I toned down the warmer tones which seem to dominate older slides.




BTW, The top knot on the little girl is so "God can pull them up to heaven."

[Celebration]

13. I like everyone's attempts.

Here is mine--



With PhotoDirector--

Temperature 14 %
Tint -40 %
Exposure .74 out of 4 (lighter)
Brightness-.13 (out of 100) darker
Clarity 100 of 100
Vibrancy barely off center at -6
Sharpness 100 of 100
Noise Reduction 33 of 100

In addition I put a very slight WHITE vignette around the edges.

[alfredo]

15. Nice. I like how you dealt with the vignetting.

[RC]

14. I used Photoscape

A few clicks of the mouse and...



Auto Level, Contrast Enhancement and Sharpen.
I could not decide whether Color Enhance made the picture better or not.

[alfredo]

16. I like the colors, but I noticed some artifacts around the people against the water. Was that from

the Color Enhance?

[RC]

17. The artifacts are in the original photo.

Sharpening brought them out and I didn't try to remove them.

[alfredo]

21. OK. I never thought of them as always present. What do you use for sharpening. I've been using

the high pass filter or wavelet sharpening.

[RC]

23. This:

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/freesoftware/fr/photoscape.htm

Download from here:
http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/download.php

[alfredo]

25. I've been using GIMP for a long time. I do straightening and cropping in iPhoto,

then export to GIMP for the heavy lifting. http://www.gimp.org/

[RC]

26. I have GIMP also.

But normally just use Photoscape. Much easier to use for routine touch ups.

[alfredo]

27. I guess I've finally nailed it. I can work very fast now.

[Johnny Noshoes]

18. Black and White Version

I used SilverFX2 and Elements. Agfa 100 emulation and some green filtration.

[alfredo]

20. That reminds me of the Grainy Film art filter on my camera.

[postatomic]

24. I'm a Coltrane fan,

but right now I'm listening to the new album by Ian Boody and Markus Reuter.

My goal was to emulate a C-Mount Lens on a Medium Format camera. I encountered a lot of problems when I interpolated the image. Artifacts, Ghosting, etc. Oh well. It is what it is. The 'story' (IMO) in this photo begins with the woman standing at the edge. I brought the buildings out in post but I didn't want them to take over the image.



Thanks. That was fun

[alfredo]

29. I love the square format and that dark lo fi look.

Having fun while learning is what this challenge is all about.

[DrDan]

28. were you in Eritrea at that time? Doing what? We were in Addis '75-'77 at the American School

Had some friends that traveled quite often to Eritrea from Addis - Navy guys. It was hard travel and we never made the trip - always wanted to. But the roads were very unsafe at that time.

[alfredo]

32. The Army Security Agency had a listening post there. I was there for 3 years.

It was called Kagnew Station. I was there before the big famine. It was just starting when I left.


There was always a risk when travelling through the outback. Even the Baboons were a hazard. They would throw stuff at you from above on Massawa road. They were good shots. They understood leading a moving object. I nearly hit a camel when descending the mountain on my bicycle. I felt the body heat as I passed. I ran over a black mamba with my motorcycle. I nearly got killed by a crazed sling using villager, and chased by a knife wielding woman, got shot at by an unknown would be assassin, and was surrounded by machine gun wielding Ethiopian soldiers. Best years of my life.

[DrDan]

34. I understand that there were also bands of pirates on the road from

Addis into Eritrea.

I stumbled upon an Aston Martin that I could have purchased for $5K. The only problem was that I would not be able to get it out of the country. Pirates along the road to Massawa were too plentiful.

We were there for 3 years - right after the assassination of Haile Selassie. Our house was across the street from the mayor of Addis - who was imprisoned in his house while we were there. Several firefights occurred right in front of his house by rebels trying to get into the compound. I would go outside, hide behind the walls surrounding our house, and watch the action.

But, I had a couple of Selassies's grandchildren in my classes and met Rommel's grandson at an embassy party.

Luckily, as teachers, we were given diplomatic papers. So we did have some unique protections.

Those two years were very memorable, and I would not trade them.

[alfredo]

36. And from Asmara to Keren and Massawa to Asmara. I was there during a time when the

Eritrean Liberation Front was not causing much trouble. When the drought started hitting, they blew up city water works. That was rather inconvenient.

[DrDan]

41. here is a site I came across just this morning - Addis in the '60's

could have very well have been Addis in the '70's, except for the cars.

Brought back a lot of memories.

I am sure it was not all that much different in Asmara/Massawa.

[alfredo]

59. They used to call Addis the world's largest village. I spent one day in Addis.

That was not enough time to get an impression of the town.

[DrDan]

60. Addis was a cool place to live

The African Cup was held there while we were there. I had some CIA friends, and they posted themselves in an apartment across the street from the stadium to keep an eye on visiting dignitaries.

It was also home to the OAU. So lot of visitors there.

It had a huuuuuuge market - claimed to be the largest in Africa. But, having spent many many hours in the Khan al Khalili in Cairo, not sure if that really holds up. It certainly was big, however, I have quite a few b&w's from that market - particularly of the photogenic spice ladies. I'll try to dig them up and post them.

It was very high - 9k feet. So, the climate was very comfortable year-round. But it took a while to get used to the altitude.

We did have a golf course - a sand green one. There was a worker posted on each hole to rake a level putting area from one's ball to the hole. But if you played early, you never knew what would be found on the fairways - dead animals from the evening hunt. I was the Tennis Chairman at the club. About a dozen clay courts. We had some decent tennis players. Some Davis cuppers were there on diplomatic status as well as some local Davis cuppers. We befriended the #3 player in the country and he visited frequently. He was doing his best to get out.

But the political situation was a daily watch. Never quite know what to expect. We had curfews ranging from 7:00 to midnight - depending on the will of the Army. The Cubans had moved in and were making their presence known. Roadblocks were frequent - and car inspections at gunpoint were de rigeur. The Chinese version of our Peace Corps were regularly seen shopping - they were doing a lot of good there.

Our community was quite small - but very social. Many dinner parties. embassy events, .horse events. Tennis. Golf. Sounds like suburbia, but certainly on a different level.

I am really glad our children had a chance to experience it. They still have a lot of memories.

[alfredo]

61. I took some photos of the African Cup games in Asmara. I will have to put them online.

Here's a few from Asmara and Massawa.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alfredo_tomato/sets/72157628500607041/

Asmara had the Bosch, it was off limits, but all that meant to me was that it had to be an interesting place. It was. I loved the tea, rolls and unsalted butter. Most of all I love spending time with my Hamasien friend. You can tell that cycling was my sport.

[alfredo]

47. Haile Selassie used to come to our base for dental work. He rode in a Plymouth Fury convertible.

He was so short only his head showed over the side of the car. Often his face was obscured by his dog and his pith helmet. He taxed Eritreans at a 55% rate.

[handmade34]

42. ...

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[alfredo]

43. I will never forget an old Italian in wrinkled khakis walking along that stretch of causeway. He was

probably a holdover from the colonial days.

[handmade34]

45. love your stories

interesting... did a little research of the area... found a few nice photos and history...


http://www.fotozanetti.com/luca/reportage/eritrea/

[alfredo]

46. Michela Wrong's "I Didn't Do it For you" is an excellent history of Eritrea.

One whole chapter told the story of our military base. Much of the wild stories in that chapter were told by some of my friends. I didn't take part in that acting up, but I did my own thing. Some of the guys used for research had a crush on Michela.

I see he posted a photo of our base bowling alley. Too bad he didn't show our miniature golf course. That Fiat dealership building was beautiful. http://tinyurl.com/kj4su3g

Massawa would get down to 90 degrees at night. They had a movie theater on the roof of a building. I remember seeing a Robert Stack movie there. At the Cinema Odeon movie house shown, some young Italians took me to see a James Dean movie, "Rebel Without a Cause."

[handmade34]

48. Art Deco in

Eritrea... who would of thought?? I was reading that at one time it was the most modern city in Africa

[alfredo]

49. It was beautiful. Here's a photo from Panaramio of an overlook

I used to visit. We called it Python valley by the soldiers. It was a few miles down Massawa road. It was very peaceful there.



Here's some scanned slides I took in Eritrea. Five of them are from Kampala Uganda. They are sandwiched between the landscape and the three guys in the airport.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alfredo_tomato/sets/72157636054521275/

[justiceischeap]

44. My go

I opened it up as a RAW file in Photoshop then applied a Fuji photo filter to it to lighten it up a bit and to bring out some of the color. Then I opened it in Photoshop and shopped out some of the obvious dust and cleaned up the pixelation around the heads near the water. I wanted it to retain the original vintage film feel but instead of the rich browns/golds, I wanted it slightly undersaturated.

[alfredo]

52. Your low saturation treatment emphasized the blinding heat of that city. Very good.

[jmowreader]

50. Send me the slide, and the size you want it

I've got a REALLY good scanner. I will fix you up.

[alfredo]

51. I don't have problems with slides, they convert just fine, it is negatives that act up.

I will be buying a negative scanner soon, so thanks for the offer. I need to find the best scanner for color negatives.

[jmowreader]

53. The best scanners are old ones

I have two scanners. The one I've had longest is an Epson Perfection V500. It does all right, but if you look at the scanner reviews online you'd think it was the second coming of the truck-size drum scanner. (Which leads to the obvious follow-up: have they ever used a scanner that didn't connect via USB?)

My new scanner is an old one: a Minolta F-2900 slide scanner. It's hooked to an old Power Mac G4 I had thru a $12 SCSI card, and I drive it with VueScan. All tolled I have half what the cheapest new decent slide scanner would have cost, and get images that look twice as good.

You will need:
either a Nikon or Minolta slide scanner. There is a war as to which is better, but either is better than a new one. If Bob Seger was a color separator instead of a rocker, he would have said "today's scanners ain't got the same soul. Make damn sure you get film holders and slide holders with it...if they're not in the pic with the scanner, keep looking.

a SCSI card or a Power Mac with a metal case - those have onboard SCSI. There are Atto and Adaptec cards; I have an Atto. Apparently Adaptecs don't play well with OS X. If you go the Very Old Mac route, you need to set up a network to get the scans off. I recommend the SCSI card in a little bit newer machine.

a computer with PCI slots.

a SCSI cable. The scanner end is Centronics 50. The computer end is whatever it is - mine is HD68. Wait till the scanner and card come in to be sure you get the right one.

a copy of VueScan from hamrick.com.

You buy all the stuff you need, put the card in and hook everything up. Turn on the scanner with no film holder in it. Turn on the computer. Run System Profiler. There is a selection "Parallel SCSI." If your scanner is listed there, you're golden. Start VueScan. If it doesn't see the scanner, shut down the scanner and change its SCSI address. If it sees it, put some film in and go to work.

[alfredo]

54. SCSI? That is a blast from the past. I donated my old

Mac Pro Dual to our local Dem party. It was loaded with some useful software, an a SCSI port. I've gone Mac Mini now, so hardware upgrades outside of the installing OF 8 gigs RAM, is out of the questions.

[jmowreader]

55. Start hitting the local thrift stores, pawn shops etc

There is such a thing as a SCSI-to-USB adapter but it's nearly $200; you can get a used G4 for far less than that if you look hard enough.

[alfredo]

56. They might have my old Dual in storage there.

Right now my priority is a new body, possibly the Oly EPL-5 or EPM-2.

If I can find a reliable local source for slide development, I might stick with my current setup.

[jmowreader]

57. You price slide film recently?

I love slide film too...but ten bucks a roll plus processing is a deal killer.

[alfredo]

58. Screw it, I'm happy with my digital. I did a three hour photo walk today.

I enjoyed it very much.

[ohheckyeah]

62. Because I wanted to do something fun

thought I would give it a try.

[alfredo]

63. I like the first image, but the sky is better in the second.

[ohheckyeah]

64. The first one with just the sky changed:

[alfredo]

65. Sky is so difficult to get right. Banding is the bane of the digital world.

[ohheckyeah]

66. Yeah, it is.

It's a pain to work around.

[alfredo]

67. The sensor gets confused by gradual changes in color.

I am finding, the less you do to a photo with a lot of clear sky the better.

[ohheckyeah]

68. What? No clouds?

[alfredo]

69. Yes!

[ohheckyeah]

70. I hate a bald sky.

[alfredo]

71. I've grown to accept my bald pate.

[ohheckyeah]

72. I don't dislike bald pates....

Last edited Thu Oct 24, 2013, 12:08 AM - Edit history (1)

my husband has one and I'm very fond of it.

[alfredo]

73. It's the shine, right?

[ohheckyeah]

74. Yes, I like and am easily

distracted by shiny objects.

[alfredo]

75. Ha!