Photography/Old film question Scan of one of the pics added

[Linflas]

My wife came across some old rolls of film we never had developed so she took them and had them processed. One of them was a roll I shot when I was in the Florida Keys in 1990. Obviously the film was way out of date and when the pics came back they are all very reddish/pink. I was wondering if there was any post processing I could do to them after scanning the negatives or a photo shop could do that would make them look a bit more "normal"? I figured maybe someone here at ATOT (Lucky?) might know something about this type of thing.

Key West in Red

 

[Mr N8]

The developer should be able to adjust the color. Bring the prints in and ask if they can do any better. Most can, even if they deny it.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

it depends how screwed they are. labs can usually push in one direction or the other, but if the pics are completely red, you're going to have a tough time getting them to look normal.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

why don't you post a sample pic?

 

[lowtech1]

Yes, Photoshop would easily fix the contrast & colour shift.

 

[kami]

Scan one in and post it.

 

[LoneShadow]

do you guys know how to fix a blurred digital pic, like when you shake your digital camera a lil, the focusing goes a lil hay wire.

 

[NogginBoink]

Take 'em back to the lab and have 'em reprinted.

The six dollar an hour employee will just run 'em through his machine and not care unless you're standing there over his shoulder.

Or go to a 'real' photo lab and get a pro to reprint the pics.

Most likely, they can be fixed optically.

 

[lowtech1]

Originally posted by: LoneShadow
do you guys know how to fix a blurred digital pic, like when you shake your digital camera a lil, the focusing goes a lil hay wire.

Could try Photoshop sharpen tool....I personally haven't seen it done that great of a job.

 

[lowtech1]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
Take 'em back to the lab and have 'em reprinted.

The six dollar an hour employee will just run 'em through his machine and not care unless you're standing there over his shoulder.

Or go to a 'real' photo lab and get a pro to reprint the pics.

Most likely, they can be fixed optically.

It is going to cost $$$, because each image might need slight colour balance. And, then there are such thing as streaking & flairs that you have to deal with that might be better for photoshop. (film canister tend to have some light leak, therefore the film might have uneven streaking/flair).

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: LoneShadow
do you guys know how to fix a blurred digital pic, like when you shake your digital camera a lil, the focusing goes a lil hay wire.

It's pretty hard to recover a bad original. I'm not the worlds greatest GIMPer, but I haven't had much luck making blurry pics look clear.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

Originally posted by: Jzero

Originally posted by: LoneShadow
do you guys know how to fix a blurred digital pic, like when you shake your digital camera a lil, the focusing goes a lil hay wire.

It's pretty hard to recover a bad original. I'm not the worlds greatest GIMPer, but I haven't had much luck making blurry pics look clear.

word. the photoshop sharpen filters don't counteract the cause of the blur. They attempt to compensate by increasing the contrast of edges. The problem with blurry pics is that you're dealing with a loss of detail along with indistinct edges.

 

[LoneShadow]

yea I played around with the sharpen->unsharpen filter, didnt help much, probably fixes minuscle distortions.

 

[NeoPTLD]

The C-41 process is relatively error proof as it's a standerdized automated process, so the chance of your negatives being ok is very good. It's not a good idea trying to recover image from a screwed up print. Take the negs to a competent photo lab and have them print out only the pictures you want. These shops know how to correct images on deteriorated negatives to make it look as good as possible.

 

[Lalakai]

two choices on the negatives. 1) Attempt to have them them reprinted by a professional photo lab, after you detail your concerns. Some labs are very good and can make some adjustments, so ask around. 2) Digitally scan the negatives with a dedicated film scanner, then in photo editor you can make your own adjustments (i do this with my nikon 4500 and a film adapter, and the prints can turn out very good).

Main problem you're facing is the reactive materials on the negatives; even under the best conditions their optimum life is short before they start degrading (even after you have them developed, they will continue to fade over time). Let us know how they turned out. Good luck

 

[Linflas]

Thanks for all the ideas. I will try to scan in a negative and post a link. I will bump the thread when I do that.

 

[Linflas]

Bump for sample pic scanned in.

Key West in Red

 

[lowtech1]

Originally posted by: Linflas
Bump for sample pic scanned in.

Key West in Red

The magenta color is very strong in that picture, but it is do able. You can ask a good print shop to lower the magenta filter (I think it will take at least -60 on the dial to get it right roughtly 25~30% less magenta) on the print, and adjust yellow & blue filters to compensate the colour shift. There will also be a need to addjust for lost of contrast & brightness ajustment. And then burn in the left most edge of the print to compensate for light leak/streak.

Try to do it with the software that come with your printer, Irfant View, Photoshop, etc...

Good luck!

 

[SKORPI0]

KeyWest - fixed Sorry, best I could do with the sample.

Go to a professional photo shop. Have them adjust the majenta. I had a film from August 1997 developed after 6 years. Got good results. They told me film from about 20 years old can still be processed. Good luck.

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: SKORPI0
KeyWest - fixed Sorry, best I could do with the sample.

Go to a professional photo shop. Have them adjust the majenta. I had a film from August 1997 developed after 6 years. Got good results. They told me film from about 20 years old can still be processed. Good luck.

looks antique and that's a complement. like those pictures you dig outta your parents photo album.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: SKORPI0
KeyWest - fixed Sorry, best I could do with the sample.

Go to a professional photo shop. Have them adjust the majenta. I had a film from August 1997 developed after 6 years. Got good results. They told me film from about 20 years old can still be processed. Good luck.

Nice, thanks for all the info all that replied. That is pretty cool that you could get those kind of results with the crappy quick scan I did. I will go through the pics and decide which ones I would like to have fixed and take them to a photo shop and see what they can do. I am also going to test the 20 year theory cause I am sure I have rolls of unprocessed film that old laying around. I was good at taking pics and horrible at getting them developed.

 

[DurocShark]

I just did that really quick in PSP 8 that I downloaded today into my work machine. I can do better with Photoshop, but don't have it here at work:

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/DurocShark/linflas.jpg

It took all of like 5 seconds to get that result. With some time and Photoshop, I could make it look close to perfect.