"Robert" wrote in message
I have a box full of high quality 4X5 color negatives. Can I (and then how do I ) remove the orange color mask in order to print the pictures? thanks
rtm
As Johan suggests, most scanner software supports negative media. If not, you can do it with curves as follows:
1) scan a piece of film with both clear and completely black areas. I generally use the film leader for this with 35mm - you'll need to look through your collection for a suitable negative with a very dark area. (See - that leaky film holder is finally paying off :-)
2) in curves, click the black eyedropper on the black section, and the white eyedropper on the clear portion of the negative. This effectively subtracts the orange mask linearly across your entire image.
3) invert the RGB curve so that it slants down instead of up. This step inverts the image.
4) save the resulting curve, and apply it to each of your scanned images.
This is not an exact inversion, and you may want to adjust the curves a bit afterward, but it will be very close.
--
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com