Found plates

[Brazile]

Thanks! I've had a fair bit of experience at this point, scanning both these and my own. Probably could be improved, but I have a system now that works for me...

Robert

[BillyBob]

Wow! I'm always blown away by the image quality they managed way back when.

And yes, very nice scans!

[LarryD]

Makes you wonder what developers were used for those old plates. I was looking up online and most were like a Dektol MQ type.

[Brazile]

Yes, that's what I've heard as well. I started out with Dektol, as that is what Eastman House recommended. I went through quite a bit of it, then discovered that D76 1:1 works just fine -- and later heard from Nick Brandreth (of Eastman) that he is using D76 now as well. As it is my standard developer for film, I just stuck with it. A little less active, but the results are good.

Robert

[Don Day]

Robert, I enjoyed looking at these scans. They remind me of the images published by the Shorpy site (here's an example similar to one of yours: http://www.shorpy.com/node/6479). I love the creamy coloration you've achieved. Do you mind sharing what color setting you use for that effect? For a similar effect in Elements, I use Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Hue/Saturation > Colorize: Hue 31, Saturation 9 (must be done on an RGB mode). Yours seems a touch more taupe/clay.

[Brazile]

Thanks, Don. As it happens, I use no coloring at all; I scan in 16-bit Grayscale in Epson Scan on a V700. Once I apply curves, screen sharpening, and do whatever spotting I think is necessary, I convert from the default Epson "grayscale" color profile to SRGB, take it back to 8-bit mode, and then save a JPG for posting. This is all in Photoshop CS6; I have not succumbed to Adobe's rental scheme yet.

I have in the past scanned in color but got some odd casts, and have even done split toning of various kinds. Eventually I elected to keep it simple. I can always re-do a scan if I want to try something fancy.

As it happens, I'm working on a new batch of plates right now. An example:


FF-109, Happy families are all alike... by Robert Brazile, on Flickr

Robert

[PFMcFarland]

Looks like Brad Kezlowski's ancestors (NASCAR/Miller Lite Special #2/Penske Racing Team).

PF

[Brazile]

Goodness, a quick image search shows what you're talking about...a bunch of Keselowski cousins maybe.

[alexvaras]

I wonder why the girl at the right side is not wearing dark/black cloth, anyone has a guess?