Digital BW, The Print

Shilesh --

I'm using an SS120 to scan 2-1/4 Tri-X. I've found Neat Image, available at 
<http://www.neatimage.com>, a versatile way to reduce the apparent 
graininess of film and thereby reduce gain aliasing. I've tried several 
other software methods to reduce the apparent grain, including the Grain 
and Noise Elimination (GANE) filter that's included with SilverFast v.6, 
and found that neither GANE or anything else I've tried rivals Neat Image 
for this purpose.

I start by using the SS120 to import a 16-bit grayscale image into 
Photoshop. After basic tonal adjustments, cropping and resizing, I export a 
flattened 8-bit grayscale image as a TIFF, follow Neat Image's recommended 
procedure of sampling even-toned areas of the image to create a grain-free 
version, and then copy and paste the image as a layer on top of the 
original image in Photoshop. I then adjust its opacity to produce exactly 
the amount of grain reduction I want. I've found it worth leaving some 
slight graininess so the picture still looks photographic -- about 60% 
opacity usually works well.

I then follow up with Robert Barnett's " Ultra-Sharpen Pro, available at 
<http://www.ultrasharpen.com>. It's a terrifically useful tool for 
sharpening edges without sharpening areas of even tonality. With it I can 
enhance the apparent sharpness of an image without increasing its apparent 
graininess. It works much better for this purpose than either the 
sharpening tools built into Neat Image or sharpening with a threshold 
adjustment in Photoshop's Unsharp Mask filter.

Using Neat Image and Ultrasharpen Pro this way provides beautifully smooth 
tonal transitions, exquisite management of grain / grain aliasing, and 
optimized images for sharp, grain-free enlargements.

-- Victor Landweber


At 06:37 PM 1/11/2003 +0000, you wrote:

>Hello All,
>
>I recently bought a 6 x 9 camera and a Polaroid SprintScan 120
>scanner.  A majority of my previous experience has been 35 mm +
>transparency film, scanned on Nikon LS 2000, convereted to b/w in
>PS.  I am interested in doing pure b/w work, with b/w film.  I am
>seeking recommendations for film, those that can be scanned well
>(read: minimal grain aliasing) with the SS 120.  I will probably
>continue to use color positives when the scene contrast is low, but
>for relatively high contrast, I would much prefer negative film.  Any
>film/exposure/processing help is greatly appreciated.
>
>Regards.
>
>Shilesh
>
>
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