Digital BW, The Print

Hello,
since I got my *wonderful* Minolta SE5400, I find that every bit of grain is visible. That's good, but in the shadows, it makes it hard to get solid blacks, as there are white specks of grain in there.

I've tried burning in the shadows, but sometimes this isn't practical.

I've been given a Canon G5 and it's great the way the shadows merge into total black. I wish I could do that with film.

Any ideas?

Many thanks,
Richard
--
http://smallfield.vze.com
http://photos.smallfield.vze.com

   1) Reach between legs
   2) Grasp firmly
   3) Pull
   --Ejection Seat Instructions from the cockpit 
   of a WWII US fighter...

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Richard 
Smallfield <r.smallfield@p...> wrote:
> Hello,
> since I got my *wonderful* Minolta SE5400, I find that every bit of 
grain is visible. That's good, but in the shadows, it makes it hard 
to get solid blacks, as there are white specks of grain in there.
> 
> I've tried burning in the shadows, but sometimes this isn't 
practical.
> 
> I've been given a Canon G5 and it's great the way the shadows merge 
into total black. I wish I could do that with film.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> Many thanks,
> Richard

Richard,

There's a program called Neat Image that does a pretty good job of 
removing noise.  The Pro version is stand alone and the Pro+ version 
is a Photoshop plug in which can be used on a layer. 
http://www.neatimage.com/

There's also something called Noise Ninja that does the same thing 
but I haven't used it.  http://www.picturecode.com/

Fred Miranda has some Photoshop Actions too I think.

Tom

I have both installed on my system and Noise Ninja does a better job. 
Neat image has the advantage of being able to be used as a plugin 
with Photoshop. Very handy when PS is a part of your workflow.
If you want to send me a image I will process with NI and NN for you 
to compare. You can also download trial versions of both if you wish.


Sierra Gold
--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tom Husband" 
<thusband@s...> wrote:
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Richard 
> Smallfield <r.smallfield@p...> wrote:
> > Hello,
> > since I got my *wonderful* Minolta SE5400, I find that every bit 
of 
> grain is visible. That's good, but in the shadows, it makes it hard 
> to get solid blacks, as there are white specks of grain in there.
> > 
> > I've tried burning in the shadows, but sometimes this isn't 
> practical.
> > 
> > I've been given a Canon G5 and it's great the way the shadows 
merge 
> into total black. I wish I could do that with film.
> > 
> > Any ideas?
> > 
> > Many thanks,
> > Richard
> 
> Richard,
> 
> There's a program called Neat Image that does a pretty good job of 
> removing noise.  The Pro version is stand alone and the Pro+ 
version 

> is a Photoshop plug in which can be used on a layer. 
> http://www.neatimage.com/
> 
> There's also something called Noise Ninja that does the same thing 
> but I haven't used it.  http://www.picturecode.com/
> 
> Fred Miranda has some Photoshop Actions too I think.
> 
> Tom

Hi,
thanks - I have Neat Image Pro Plus - I hadn't thought of using that, as my celeron 600 (700mb Ram) takes at least three months to process my 70mb scans with Neat Image!

I reduced the size of a 7,600px wide photo to send you as a jpeg, but found that the specs in the shadows was less obvious once it was reduced.

Maybe it be a good idea to interpolate downwards before printing, then run Neat Image (at an image size my PC can cope with) before printing?

How much does Noise Ninja cost, and what things does it do better than Neat Image?

thanks,
Richard
--
http://smallfield.vze.com
http://photos.smallfield.vze.com

   "It takes less time to do a thing right than explain why you 
   did it wrong."
   --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Richard,

Have you got the latest NI update? It is faster than the previous one. But I
know what you mean; even my P4 2.8 with 2GB ram takes ages on a big file.

Bob Frost.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Smallfield" <r.smallfield@...>


Hi,
thanks - I have Neat Image Pro Plus - I hadn't thought of using that, as my
celeron 600 (700mb Ram) takes at least three months to process my 70mb scans
with Neat Image!