Negative Scans - Workflows & Apps for De-noise and Sharpening - Advice Please

[garthn17269005]

Hello, This is my first post on here. I've been using Lightroom Classic for a while, and am happy with most of the  results although I'm far more of a "try it and see" editor than knowing all the theory.

My project is making a photobook from a lot of scanned negatives and slides, mainly colour, from the '80s and '90s. I bought a scanner and am happy with the results. I'm exporting as .tiff files, as positives. There is some editing within the scanner software, but it doesn't seem too intrusive.

Many of the images are good - well exposed and in focus. Others are out of focus, or have motion blur. When experimenting with the "Shake Reduction" option in Photoshop a few years ago, I got some great results, to the extent that many images I dismissed as rubbish back in the day now looked very good. I've also had some success with Topaz De-noise and Sharpen.

My questions are:

1) What are the best De-noise options to use? Is there a Lightroom Classic function that effectively does the same as Topaz? I routinely use the De-noise Function in LRC for .RAW files, but it doesn't seem to be available for .TIFF files.

2) If I use the Photoshop "Camera Shake" filter option, and if I have to use Topaz for de-noise, what should the workflow be?

3) When exporting from Lightroom as .JPEG, into Photoshop or Topaz, should I use the "sharpen for screen" (or other sharpen options in the export menu), or not?

4) Any tips or tricks for getting the best results from scanned negatives would be greatly appreciated. I've got a couple of thousand images to make into my book, and I only want to do it once!

Thanks in advance for your help.

[KR Seals]

I'll respond to these two points:

3) When exporting from Lightroom as .JPEG, into Photoshop or Topaz, should I use the "sharpen for screen" (or other sharpen options in the export menu), or not?

I would not export to get into PS or Topaz, use the "Edit In" menu item.

4) Any tips or tricks for getting the best results from scanned negatives would be greatly appreciated. I've got a couple of thousand images to make into my book, and I only want to do it once!

For color, Negative Lab Pro (NLP) is a good tool for converting color negatives to positive. In that app, which is a plugin for Lightroom Classic, I always have NLP "create a copy" (.tif) that LrC can work on in the normal way. Adjusting the images in NLP after conversion requires the sliders to work in the opposite way from normal. NLP also works great on B&W.

Also scan/copy at high resolution if you book will be large, 11" or larger.

For 35mm negatives, I use camera copying at 45MP with the Nikon ES-2 copy adapter. No alignment necessary

[garthn17269005]

Thanks Ken.

I've already scanned the negatives, and exported as positives. Perhaps I made a mistake there, but I don't want to scan them all again.

The file sizes are about 55 MB from 35mm negatives.

[Per Berntsen]

1) Denoise only works with raw files, at least for the time being.

You can use manual noise reduction in LrC (Luminance) or the Reduce noise filter in Photoshop.

Topaz Denoise will give you better results than either.

2) Do noise reduction before any sharpening.

Topaz Denoise (standalone, not Photo AI) also has options for sharpening.

3) 35mm scans tend to not respond well to sharpening, in my experience it very often it makes them look worse.

So sharpen conservatively, if at all.

I would not use any sharpening at all in LrC, possibly after noise reduction, and preferably using Topaz Sharpen AI or Photo AI.

And I would not send a jpg to Photoshop or Topaz for further editing, use Edit in from LrC.

Make sure to work with tiffs all the way. Jpg is a final format, and not meant to be edited.

4) I agree with @KR Seals in that Negative Lab Pro does an excellent job of converting color negatives to positive.

Version 3.1 (currently in beta) is also supposed to do a very good job with restoring colors from faded and miscolored slides.

Some other advice –

• Always scan in 16-bit (48-bit color)
• Rather than using Edit in Topaz from LrC, use edit in Photoshop instead, and use the Topaz plugin in PS.
  Then do noise reduction and sharpening on copies of the Background layer.
  This will allow you to overdo the noise reduction and sharpening a bit, and you can fine tune the effect by reducing the opacity on the layers. Always view the image at 100% when doing noise reduction and sharpening
• Retouching (removing dust and scratches) is best done in Photoshop. It is quite awkward to do in LrC, and it will slow down to a crawl after a while.
  I always open scans in PS before importing to LrC for retouching and cropping. (the latter is almost impossible to do accurately in LrC)

[garthn17269005]

Thanks Per, that's very helpful.

So you're saying edit these in Photoshop as a default app, with Topaz used as a plugin...

or

Edit primarily in Lightroom, with Photoshop as a plugin and with Topaz as a plugin to the Photoshop plugin?

Seems quite an elaborate workflow if it's the latter?

Thanks again.

[Per Berntsen]

My suggested workflow is this, with LrC as the main editor.

• First of all, open the scan in PS, remove dust and scratches and crop (if necessary).
  If this is a scan of a black & white negative, invert it to positive before retouching and cropping.
  If it's a scan of a color negative that you plan to convert with the Negative Lab Pro plugin for LrC, do retouching later, the orange mask makes it very difficult.
• Save and close the file, then import it in LrC and edit to your liking. Do not apply any sharpening.
• For noise reduction, press Control + E (edit in Photoshop) and choose Edit a copy with Lightroom adjustments.
  If you choose Edit Original, your LrC edits will not be visible in PS. You really want to see them, because some edits, like Clarity and Dehaze will enhance noise.
• In PS, create a copy of the background layer (name it Noise reduction), then run Topaz Denoise on the new layer.
  Use a little stronger noise reduction than what you think is required, then reduce the layer opacity to fine tune.
  If you want to sharpen the image, create a copy of the Noise reduction layer, name it Sharpening, and run Topaz sharpening on it. Again, oversharpen a bit, and reduce the layer opacity afterwards.
  Remember to view the image at 100% when doing noise reduction and sharpening.
  When you save and close the file, it will automatically appear in LrC.
• The advantage of doing noise reduction and sharpening on layers is that you can always go back and change the opacity of the layers to reduce or increase the effect, and also use a layer mask.
  You can of course use the Topaz plugins from LrC, but you will not be able to do any fine tuning afterwards.

[Per Berntsen]

It slipped my mind that DeNoise in LrC now supports non-raw (linear) DNG files.

Not all scanner software can create DNG files, but the professional version of VueScan, which supports the vast majority of scanners, can do it.

But the DNG file will be a raw scan of the original, so there will be no conversion to positive when scanning negatives.

[garthn17269005 · Accepted solution]

Thanks very much everyone  - I've got enough to get on with my project now.