Over two years ago, I had posted this image on my old website. At the time, I mustered all my skills to make it as perfect as possible for view on the web. Sure, I was using the latest techniques and tools to make the image look great. But that doesnt guarentee success. At the time, I remember being impressed with the work when I published it. What could be better? A lot apparently... About two weekends ago, I fired up my scanner for the first time in months to rescan one of my slides. That particular image was always especially difficult to scan correctly and I had little if any success getting it right. I gave up after many futile attempts. Two years of learning hadnt changed anything though this time, I was able to make an even better/acceptable scan. Buoyed by this success, Ive taken to re-scanning several other favorites including this months image o month. In fact, Im much more impressed with the sharpness, color, and contrast of my most recent efforts compared to the past. I think youll find the same.
So, whats the difference this time around? First, Im using a slightly better scanner. My old SCSI Nikon LS-30 while great had its issues. It had problems holding color consistently and even sharpness on occasion. Neither of these problems were extreme and didnt really degrade from an overall wonderful scanner. Not the highest technology, the LS-30 was certainly excellent for the price at the time. Enter Nikons next generationLS40 or Coolscan IV. My previous issues have been eliminated and the scanning software is much more intuitive. I hate to say this but Nikon has finally released a decent set of software that runs acceptably on a Mac. Ive now gone of avoiding Nikon software like the plague to actually exclusively using it for all my Nikon digital imaging components. Secondly, I understand color a lot better. About a year ago, I finally began to understand how color calibrating works and why you need a profile for all you color devices. I also now understand what to do if you dont have a color profile for input devices like a scanner. The whole workflow from scan to print is therefore much simpler and easier to understand. Overall my experience with digital imaging is much better.
A combination of improved skills and technology has allowed a Renaissance descend on my older slides. Theyve been revived to compete with the overall quality of my most recent image captures. I guess it points to theres always new life in old images waiting to be discovered if you put the effort in.
Youll see in the coming months several older images re-processed from my previous website and posted here. The quality improvement will be similar to what you see with this months Image o Month. Ill even plow through my slides and find some undiscovered gems that havent even seen the light of day yet. Stay posted.
Cheers
Tom Hill
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