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Help!
I scan my film (Slide and Print)with a Canon 8400f and use either Paint Shop Pro 7 or Arcsoft Photo Studio 5.5. I am finding that after printing on an Epson R300 that you can see where I have removed dust scratches and blemishes etc.You cannot see on the monitor a 17" CRT where the difference is only after printing and as I enlarge the print to A4 it stands out.What am I doing wrong or is there something that needs calibrating.I am very articulate on my prints and keep any work to a minimum but it is driving me crazy as I use Ilford Gallerie Smooth Gloss and Smooth Pearl. If you could help I would be eternally grateful.I have some shots on the readers gallery under the name -Noddyboy- so if you look at them you will see what I mean.Any suggestions will be gratefully appreciated. Regards Richard.
Firstly how are you removing the dust and blemishes? Working with Photoshop, I generally use the clone stamp and the healing brush - depending on whether I need to preserve detail or not. You have to be very careful to avoid adding blemishes of your own but usually this isn't a problem. If you are using the wrong tool for the job, this could be the cause of your problems.
Secondly, and most impotantly, are you removing spots whilst viewing your image at 100% magnification? If not, you can't properly see exactly what whichever tool you are using is doing. I do all my soptting at 100% and then reduce the magnification so the whole image is visible to work on colour-correction etc.
(EDIT)
Just one other thought. Are you scanning at the size you are printing at (or above)? If you are scanning small, making corrections, and then up-ressing for output this would also cause the sort of problems you are getting. Always, always scan at your planned output size, or larger.
Thanks for the quick reply I really appreciate this and the answer to your query is I use the eyedropper and paintbrush or the spraycan as I am not au fei with any of the other tools. In truth i would prefer not to use any if I could help it but even the best D?P houses make mistakes. I use an MZS and now I have decided to invest in the new Pentax digital preferably the 10 megapixel model but we shall have to wait and see how it performs, but I really need to know how to use the tools as I think I may need them more often than I do now.I scan at the large size for A4 prints.I use Epsons own inks even if they are scandolous prices but you get what you pay for as I have found out to mu costs,fading after 2 months with compatible inks.I have got to go now something has cropped up but I appreciate your help enormously and may contact you when I get back possibly monday.Regards Richard and thanks again.
Quote: Thanks for the quick reply I really appreciate this and the answer to your query is I use the eyedropper and paintbrush or the spraycan as I am not au fei with any of the other tools.
I'm not at all familiar with PSP and how its tools correspond to the Photoshop equivalents but what you should be doing is using something that corresponds to the clone-stamp. Actually, there's a PSP tutorial that covers exactly that here.
When you use the eyedropper tool have you discovered the options of what you pick up? It is in PSPX above the picture on the left and called 'sample size' ..but in PSP7 I am not sure where it is. From memory I had to ask JASC where it was and I got it maybe through the FILE menu, preferences?. Hopefully your manual will tell you where it is, or F1. It give you the option of getting a blend of the colours in up to an 11x11 pixel area and sometimes you pick the wrong colour if you have it set to just pick from a single pixel.
You have very delicate and subtle colouring in your shots so accurate pickup and frequent change will be essential. I think I would probably work with a low Hardness,Density and Opacity to quietly build up any alterations. Low hardness blends into surrounding pixels better than a high value. A lot depends on if you can live with a softer result these settings give you rather than the hard copy high settings give.
If you first organise another blank layer above the 'background' picture layer you are working on you can use the right click on photo to pick up the colour and then change to the blank layer above and apply with the left click. Anything you apply is not on the photograph until you merge. But PSP will let you print a multi-layered file and only finally when you have it AOK need you merge the layers. Working this way, although rather tedious, means that anything you do is not on the photo layer until it is AOK and you merge. If you have the storage space there is no reason to merge. If you want to try different treatments you can store each treatment on a separate layer and toggle between them, or for that matter make prints simply by 'hiding' the layer you don't want included in the print for comparison purposes etc..
For further queries about PSP use I suggest www.pspug.com
That is the PSP Users Group, full of helpful folk
, and 1:1 tutoring in your time zone if you want it.
Richard
In answer to your original question I think you have two independent issues that you need to tackle.
The first issue is your method of removing blemishes. When you select a colour and paint you are using the same colour for the whole area you are painting. If the adjacent areas have some subtle change of colour or lightness then the difference between your painted area and the unpainted area becomes noticeable. The answer is to get to grips with cloning - eg: using Joolsb's link. I sense your reluctance, but this really is the bedrock of manipulation and, once you've mastered it, you will find yourself using the clone tool over and over again.
The second issue is that your screen isn't showing you the subtleties of the image. It may be that you need to zoom in to enlarge the portion of the image you are working on, or it may be that you need to calibrate your monitor. (Search the forum for advice on this.) If your monitor is too bright then variations in the light tones will lost; if your monitor is too dark then slight changes in the darker tones won't show so well on the screen.
John
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