How should I expose camera-scanned film negatives before inverting them?
Asked 8/17/2013
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I’m using a Nikon D5200 to digitize old film negatives by photographing them on a backlit surface, then inverting the image on my computer. The original shot of the negative looks very dark on the histogram, but after inversion the positive looks blown out and I have to reduce brightness a lot to make it usable. Is this expected when converting a negative to a positive? What exposure approach should I use when photographing negatives?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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Keep in mind that dark is bright on a negative. Anything black is going to become white, so underexposing the image of the negative results in an overexposure of the positive. Boost your original exposure of the negative and the inverted version will be more natural. It's probably being exposed dark due to being on a light table which is probably throwing off your auto-exposure, so you either need to alter your exposure compensation or set your exposure manually.
Originally by user11392. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11392
13y ago
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Yes—this is expected if the negative capture is underexposed. With film negatives, tones are reversed: dark areas on the negative become bright in the positive, and light areas become dark. So if you photograph the negative too dark, the inverted result will look too bright or blown out.
The likely cause is that your camera’s auto-exposure is being fooled by the bright light table/backlight. To fix it, expose the negative more brightly than your current captures, either by:
- using positive exposure compensation, or
- switching to manual exposure and setting it yourself.
In short: don’t judge the negative capture the same way you would a normal photo scene. A very dark-looking capture of the negative often leads to an overbright positive after inversion. Increase the exposure of the negative capture until the inverted image looks more natural.
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