Manually Inverting Color Negative Film Using Photoshop - Advanced

Advanced Tutorial on how I invert and edit my color negative scans in photoshop. www.daverollans.com
Alex Burke’s video which helped me a lot in developing the process I use.
• Inverting Color Negati...

[@banchasurapatthananon_2910]

😊This video is a very good for the beginner like me, thank you for your share.

[@andydreadsbmx]

This was pretty awesome and insightful! The use of adjustment layers and the luminosity masks is a really solid workflow!

[@TanChoonHong]

Excellent tutorial. Thx for sharing.

[@stranly]

Great video, I've been waiting on the edge of my seat for these to drop! Thanks for doing this, I'm very grateful you've taken the time to help others work through the process. You mentioned you would add a link to Alex Burkes video in the description, any chance you could still do this?

[@DavesFilmLab]

Thanks! Good call! I’ve been so swamped with stuff that I totally forgot. Barely had the time to make these. I’ll get that into the description by the end of today.

[@DavesFilmLab]

Just added it!

[@lacombejulien]

Great video ! Any chance to make one for C1 ?

[@jamiegray3245]

I've gone through Epson Scan, Silverfast and thinking about buying NLP. Why, because I've never been truly happy with my scans, they just lack the rich tones that's deep within the negative. However, watching this, and understanding what's going on, has blown my mind a little bit and I can't wait to use my scanner to produce a RAW negative file, and start inverting that in Photoshop. The engine in Photoshop is pretty advanced and I think this is easily the best way to produce the perfect scan. Knowing Alex Burke does this too has sold this method to me. Thanks Dave.

[@DavesFilmLab]

Happy to hear! A small bit of advice is, practice this method a little to get yourself to a point where you’re actually happy. Think that a number of folks get frustrated with the process, without fully giving themselves time to acclimate to the workflow. Alex Burke was also the one who sold me on this method, and after some practice… have never looked back. Cheers!

[@leniehulse1621]

Awesome video!!

[@DavesFilmLab]

Thanks! Hopefully I can make some more soon

[@leniehulse1621]

Why is it that when I invert a negative and decide to close and not save, then the next time I open the image I cannot start fresh again? Its like the edits are imbedded in the image.

[@DavesFilmLab]

@@leniehulse1621 this sounds like you’re working in camera raw instead of open the image as a negative. At any point, you can always easily revert back to the original image easily in camera raw. With that said, keep your original file and save a copy that you work from. Safer way to work

[@matthewgolem]

I can't tell you how brilliant your flow is. I have watched videos like this and by far yours is the easiest for me to understand and reminded me of the way I used a curve in a preset in RAW many years ago. Is there any of this you'd be open to automating in RAW first, or is there a reason you like creating the different laters later, in photoshop. I'm trying to think of a way to get at least some of this process set up, with layers that I can adjust later. Maybe the habit of doing it step by step is good, given my open reference to a RAW preset I couldn't remember. LOL. Thanks again! What is your instagram account?

[@DavesFilmLab]

Yo! Glad this helped! I just prefer layers to be able to save the edits as a TIFF file. More universal and less prone to issues in the long term. Instagram is @cinedar

[@Bairhanz]

Does this process end up overwriting the natural color cast of different brands of film? I guess the thing I'm most unsure about, especially with DSLR scanning, is if this process circumvents the original "capture" of film, or if the film is still creating a "sandbox" if you will for you to get creative in. For example, if I was excited to shoot CineStill 400D for the color and tonal range it captures, is there a different process you would follow to retain that or is what you're doing here in the video still produce a faithful representation of that film?

[@DavesFilmLab]

It’s important to remember, how arbitrary color has ALWAYS been with color negative films. How they were printed in the darkroom, could drastically change the final color tone and color relations. So the same applies to digitizing with a dalr, a drum scanner, imacon scanners, flatbed, and any other method you could find. In my experience, this method actually stays more true to how I printed in an RA4 darkroom than many of the other methods out there. This is why I prefer slide film heavily… it takes the entire arbitrary nature of color negative film out of the equation. There’s 4 different ways I develop E6 films to alter their tonality, but it’s extremely predictable and more satisfying in the end (for myself). Color negative films have to be inverted in one way or another, and this method will stay true to the films natural color relations.

[@Bairhanz]

@@DavesFilmLab thanks for the solid (and fast) response!

[@DavesFilmLab]

@@Bairhanz Absolutely! The one thing I will say with this method… it takes a little bit of getting used to… but after a little bit of trial and error, I’ve never been happier with the color negative results than I’m getting. Only have access to limited film stocks since I work mostly in large format and will only shoot fresh film, but the method should apply to all films. Once you’ve done the work you see here, then you can add your extra layers in photoshop to further alter the image into what you want. Typically, I’d advise getting it to a neutral space of what the film is actually giving you, and from there… make the adjustments to suit your personal tastes. The beautiful thing about all of this, is that it’s art. So it’s heavily subjective, and just because something works for me… doesn’t make it the end all be all. So this is intended to be a guide to help others, find their voice. Well wishes from Northern California!

[@artexfetus]

Ah I have a question so I'm trying this hack to avoid sending my film to a lab to get developed because its too pricey. I was just wondering if I had taken my pictures on coloured film can I also develop them as I would with black and white film then use this hack to process the already developed film to colour?

[@DavesFilmLab]

No, C41 and E6 films should not be processed in b/w chemistry unless you want a monochrome image

[@artexfetus]

@@DavesFilmLab Ahh I see thank you :)

[@Beauty.and.FashionPhotographer]

You can also do the neg inversion in Photoshop's RAW interface, it will leave also the CR2 file non-destructable.... not sure if you ever knew this small, but quite important time saving feature... DM me to know how to do this ...and if you are curious.. i do all things in Photoshops RAW interface "before i open it in Photoshop",.... the negative inversion, the dust removal , colors , contrast , sharpening if needed... color noise removal if needed... and only will open the CR2 file in photoshop when i am completely finished with all things that needs to be done in this RAW interface Window ... and i also leave it all in 16 bit Black and white, or 48 bit color , during these raw Window interface window steps. I am currently experimenting leaving it all in the largest Gamut "Photo RGB" ...and only convert at the last moment into srgb or adobe, which are smaller, but more usable gamuts. i do this in order not to loose any colors from the narrow color negative color gamut.

[@DavesFilmLab]

Definitely have used that trick but found it to be more time consuming so this method I’m using, keeps me within my 5 minute editing window for images. Appreciate the tip! 99% of what I shoot now is slide film cause I’m finding color negative to be too arbitrary of a process and enjoy the limited latitude. All that said, no right or wrong way to go about it so long as it gets you to a file or a print that you’re happy with!

[@monelleny]

I am using CS4, and do not have "Subtract" as an option under the layer modes. Any hint what I can use instead? Thanks.

[@DavesFilmLab]

Even when you hold option? At the gym right now so don’t have photoshop in front of me, but I’ll check when I get home

[@monelleny]

@@DavesFilmLab - Sorry, I don't have a Mac, so it's slow going for me having to stop and find Windows equivalents of your commands. I painted the new layer with the color of the film border, but I do not have a "Subtract" option. Is there another option I can use?

[@DavesFilmLab]

@@monelleny from everything I’m researching, there should be a subtract under layers blending options

[@monelleny]

@@DavesFilmLab- Thanks for trying to help, but here's what I have: Normal, Dissolve, Darken, Multiply, Color Burn, Linear Burn, Darken Color, Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Dodge (Add), Lighten Color, Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Hard Mix, Difference, Exclusion, Hue, Saturation, Color, Luminosity. That's it. I tried most of them. I believe that Subtract started with CS5.

[@leniehulse1621]

Sorry to be a pain. How can you tell from a negative (before inverting) that you need to adjust the exposure?

[@DavesFilmLab]

Trial and error. My advice is taking 4 exposures, from one stop under up to one stop over, and invert all four. See which looks best. This process requires a bit of trial and error to get down but once you get used to it, it’s very fast and easy to do. This is why I mainly prefer slide film, dislike how arbitrary negative films are

[@alexandru2124]

Sweet cat