Digital BW, The Print

Todd,

> Carolyn, I have a couple of follow up questions.

> What is analog gain and how is it applied? Is it raising the center (gamma)
> of the master curve?

Analog gain controls the brightness of the scanners light source.  If used
sparingly it can help bring out things that a normal scan doesn't... If used
to excess it can make very funky images.

It is found under scanner extras in my Nikon LS2000's software... along with
ICE and multi-scan settings.

You can control the master or each channel. I brought out segments of a
spiders leg by using the analog gain that were otherwise blown out with any
curve combo I tried... I lowered the brightness of the light and there it
was. 

I understand that this feature is still available on the 4000 and 8000ED
models...

> Is this so that you can hold detail throughout the entire range of the
> original at good contrast *and* while maintaining the integrity of the
> histogram? Otherwise you could just capture a flat (soft contrast) rendition
> of the image at the scan stage, and apply contrast through curves; but this
> would yield a combed histogram. Is that your reason for scanning separately
> for shadows and highlights?

Yes, sometimes I cannot find the *right* curve when adjusting for an image
with great contrast, even with a flat scan... although I can see the detail
in the neg. I find that I can bring the detail out of two or more areas
(highlights and shadows) without combing the histogram and causing
posterization by using this method.  Similar to bracketing two or three
shots in the camera  and then layering and blending them in Photoshop...
only I use one negative that has enough detail in these areas.  Without
compressing your tonal range of the scan to employ richness you use the
richness available from more than one scan... Not sure I'm making sense in
my description but it works very well.

I cannot remember where I first heard of this (a few years back) but I was
very pleased to read the same procedure described in John Paul Caponigros
latest book.

I have never had anything drum scanned nor used a higher end film scanner so
I have tried over the years to come up with ways of dealing with my scanners
limitations... 


> Thanks, I very much enjoyed learning your workflow.

Thanks Todd, I appreciate that you found something in it of interest.

Carolyn