Vintage 35mm digitalized images

[Old school]

Dear Alamy Contributors,

My wife and I are 'old school' photographers with 35,000 or so 35mm color slides using Nikon equipment and lens.  Most are Kodachrome 25 and 64.  We digitalized 1000s with the end result we have images with 150 to 250 megabits...too large to send by email.  Have any other ALAMY CONTRIBUTORS asked about submitting images in such large megabits and if so, what happened?  Also, there is an inherent loss of image fidelity between the original 35mm Kodachrome 25 and the digitalized results.  Any Contributors asked these questions? cheers, Flo and Paul

[Chuck Nacke]

Flo and Paul,

 

I do apologize for a previous post.  I am sorry and I was rude.

But the bottom line is that if you wish to contribute to a "commercial"

Stock library you will need to learn a professional way to prepare your

images. 

 

I really do have thousands of 35mm Kodachromes in sealed boxes in

my basement,  I was a beta tester for Kodak.

 

Chuck

[Old school]

48 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Flo and Paul,

 

I do apologize for a previous post.  I am sorry and I was rude.

But the bottom line is that if you wish to contribute to a "commercial"

Stock library you will need to learn a professional way to prepare your

images. 

 

I really do have thousands of 35mm Kodachromes in sealed boxes in

my basement,  I was a beta tester for Kodak.

 

Chuck

Dear Chuck, Apology accepted.  We are painfully aware of our shortcomings. And, using 20-20 hindsight of some 10-year ago, knowing what we know now,  things hopefully would have been different.  If you have mulled over 'converting' your large collection of Kodachromes to make them useful in today's high-speed, constantly changing digital world, and knowing your computer, where would you begin?

 

PHOTOSHOP is an ALAMY CONTRIBUTOR frequent recommendation and while we know-of the software, neither of us have actually seen it work and whether the software is readily learned by us.  Our worst fears are 'jumping' into some software, making great headway in the wrong direction...again...and in the end, doesn' help us to successfully 'convert' TIFF to JPEG and do so without going broke.  We won't know how well whatever we finally select will make the 'conversion' and still pass quality control at ALAMY or any of the other stock photo companies.  We dread 're-doing' 1000s of slides...a dilemma folks with slide boxes just gathering dust are facing. 

 

On a more lite topic, congratulations on your Kodak activities.  Not every ALAMY CONTRIBUTOR can relate to film photography of yesterday in such a personal manner. And, one of your perks was perhaps being supplied with Kodachrome 25 and 64 by the case, plus processing.  That tends to 'reduce' costs in a huge way.

 

Cheers, Flo and Paul

[Chuck Nacke]

Flo and Paul,

 

Thanks and again I apologize for my post.  NOW let's get real,  I do not and never had an unlimited budget to produce

digital images.  I also spent ten years in several of my basements around the U.S. working on scans from film images

that I have shot on assignment for magazines around the world.  Over the years I've worked with all of the major photo agencies

except for one, starts with M.  I once shot an assignment on film for G and the editor wanted to know why I did not have the

images online within an hour...... 

 

I would politely suggest that you buy a book on Photoshop and Lightroom and get a subscription to Adobe Cloud, the simple

one, just Photoshop and Lightroom should cost less than $10.00 per month when you pay annually.

 

Next you need to learn to edit.  I have a degree in journalism and worked for the major news magazines for decades.  I think that

I know how to edit and when I shot an event or person for Live News I keep it under 20 images and usually under ten.  When I

go into my current basement to select images to scan I select the images based on current events,  what is already on Alamy and on other libraries.

Keep in mind that it takes me at least a day, use to be days and weeks per image, to finish an image to upload to Alamy.  That is

why my main account still has less than 1,000 images after 16 years and yes I do have a few turkeys, but I am running at over 70 licenses

a year on Alamy.  I'm currently having a problem with running my CanoScan FS4000 in VueScan Professional.

 

The bottom line is scan well, using the best equipment that you can afford, caption and keyword better. It will pay off in the long run, NOT THE SHORT

RUN.

 

Sincerely,

 

Chuck Nacke

Edited November 8, 2019 by Chuck Nacke
Grammer

[M.Chapman]

5 hours ago, Old school said:

PHOTOSHOP is an ALAMY CONTRIBUTOR frequent recommendation and while we know-of the software, neither of us have actually seen it work and whether the software is readily learned by us.  Our worst fears are 'jumping' into some software, making great headway in the wrong direction...again...and in the end, doesn' help us to successfully 'convert' TIFF to JPEG and do so without going broke.  We won't know how well whatever we finally select will make the 'conversion' and still pass quality control at ALAMY or any of the other stock photo companies.  We dread 're-doing' 1000s of slides...a dilemma folks with slide boxes just gathering dust are facing. 

 

I've done some digging, and from what I can see Adobe Bridge is FREE and could be used to browse through the TIFF format images you have on DVD and then EXPORT any images files you select in JPG format to a new location (e.g. computer hard disk) at a user selected quality level and size. Obviously this wouldn't allow you to edit the images in any way, but it might at least allow you to produce some un-edited jpgs that you could submit to Alamy to see if they pass QC. It's far from an ideal approach, as I suspect your images are MOST LIKELY to need editing to pass QC so it would be best to use Photoshop (Elements) rather than Bridge. But, if you really don't want to spend any money at this stage, and you'd like further help to try Adobe Bridge, please let us know. The first questions will be

 

1) What computer do you have?

2) Do you know what operating system is it running and which version? (Mac OSX, Windows, Linux etc.) 

3) Does it have a DVD reader that can read your dual layer DVDs

 

Mark

Edited November 8, 2019 by M.Chapman

[Brian Yarvin]

Mark, there's lots more out there that's free or really inexpensive and that easily meets the requirements of Alamy and other professional photography sales platforms. It just takes a bit of knowledge to spot. FastStone Image Viewer will do a better job (in many ways) than bridge and is free. Of course, the list of alternate editing programs is long and has been repeated too many times here.

 

Flo and Paul really need to learn the basics first though! They write "megabits" for (probably) "megabytes" and don't seem to understand basic file structures. The solution to that is free - some quality time with a few library books. It's not like they're in deep water without knowing how to swim, it's more like being in deep water without realizing that there's a technique called "swimming" that can help them cope with and eventually master that deep water. In addition,  their expectation of being excused from learning the basics because of their age is disturbing to other photographers who have been educated later in life.

 

They've asked for help and we can do it. Can we next suggest some book titles for them?

[MDM]

18 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

 

I've done some digging, and from what I can see Adobe Bridge is FREE and could be used to browse through the TIFF format images you have on DVD and then EXPORT any images files you select in JPG format to a new location (e.g. computer hard disk) at a user selected quality level and size. Obviously this wouldn't allow you to edit the images in any way, but it might at least allow you to produce some un-edited jpgs that you could submit to Alamy to see if they pass QC. It's far from an ideal approach, as I suspect your images are MOST LIKELY to need editing to pass QC so it would be best to use Photoshop (Elements) rather than Bridge. But, if you really don't want to spend any money at this stage, and you'd like further help to try Adobe Bridge, please let us know.

 

Mark

 

Mark I didn't realise that Bridge had the capability to export as JPEG on its own but that is a very simple solution if it works. However, you may still be talking way over their heads, mainly because of a serious mental block rather than any inability on their part. You will have to do very basic step by step guidance. Good luck.

 

My image passed QC by the way. So that is a baseline for me if I do it again as I sent it on its own so it would have been examined. 

[spacecadet]

5 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

 

 

My image passed QC by the way. So that is a baseline for me if I do it again as I sent it on its own so it would have been examined. 

I would have submitted that as well. It encourages me to have another think about the best of mine that don't qualify as archival. I zipped through 6000 precisely because there were 6000- spending a bit more time on re-copying a few dozen might be worthwhile.

[Marianne]

Glad the DVD player isn't blinking. 😎

 

@Brian Yarvin had a good suggestion about books.

A quick google search brought up this list of recent Photoshop/Lightroom books, most of which are probably available at your local library. I learned Photoshop about 12 years ago so I haven't read any of these myself, but I highly recommend anything by Scott Kelby  - I have read several of his books and articles, and his writing is easily understood. I've taken some one-day seminars with him as well. He knows his stuff but never talks down to you. There are helpful descriptions of each book.

 

https://bookauthority.org/books/new-adobe-photoshop-books

 

You can also look online for free videos on the Adobe site. Julianne Kost (who I've also taken classes with) writes frequently about LR especially, but I'd first search the site for beginner videos. Also, if you find a recent book by Martin Evening, his books are quite comprehensive. 

 

I've written a couple of articles about Lightroom myself. Though aimed at beginners, they assume that you understand basics such as file format and mostly discuss new features added in the past couple of years. So, I won't bother with those links. 

 

Be sure that if you do buy or take out a book/watch videos, that you are dealing with the latest version of PS Elements (basically, Photoshop lite) or the latest version of PS/LR since a lot has changed. I'm about to delve into the latest updates just released this week.

 

To help you learn the lingo, search for "file formats" and "file size" on Adobe's site or on Google to get a sense of what you're talking about in terms of size.

 

And lastly, if you continue scanning, recognize that TIFF is a lossless format, so that you can use ZIP compression to make your files significantly smaller and not need so much hard drive space. Also, you will not want to scan to jpeg because it is a lossy method and every time you save a jpeg file, it degrades slightly. Output to jpeg is the last step once you have done any work needed (retouching and metadata), Google these terms and you will understand what we are talking about. It's really not Greek once you familiarize yourself with the terms. Google "why you should shoot RAW" and you'll understand why using your camera to shoot jpegs is a real waste. 

 

Nikon used to offer weekend classes on using your camera and processing your files. Check with them or with the place where you bought your camera to see what's available. Even if you bought it online, they may be able to direct you. The place you rented the lens from (smart move BTW - you must be getting advice from some knowledgable photographer friend), they might be able to help too. Where do you live? Contributors nearby might have some suggestions. 

 

I'd also search the Alamy Forum for "similars" as it might help you with editing. Good luck! You will be so happy once you learn even the basics. 

[M.Chapman]

1 hour ago, MDM said:

 

Mark I didn't realise that Bridge had the capability to export as JPEG on its own but that is a very simple solution if it works. However, you may still be talking way over their heads, mainly because of a serious mental block rather than any inability on their part. You will have to do very basic step by step guidance. Good luck.

 

My image passed QC by the way. So that is a baseline for me if I do it again as I sent it on its own so it would have been examined. 

 

Yes, I was surprised Bridge can convert image file formats without PS installed. One option that I don't see is colour space conversion so it will only work for Alamy submissions if the TIFFs are already using AdobeRGB or sRGB colour space.

 

I'm now back at my computer so I took a closer look at your copies at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7i8l15lkro04so7/AACJ-k1UW4ZwslyUD1hav2eda?dl=0. I like the end result and I'd have risked it with Alamy QC too. I guess you don't know whether that image was actually inspected or not. Was it submitted on it's own or as part of a larger submission?

 

I hope to get onto digitising some 35mm Velvia slides and submitting to Alamy sometime this Winter. In the meantime, here's a link to a couple of my attempts from earlier in the year. Setup was Lumix G7 camera + 45mm macro lens on tripod photographing 35mm Velvia slide on top of an upside down B&Q LED downlighter. They were photographed in RAW and then processed using an ACR preset I derived from a Velvia photo of my Passport Colorchecker.  I'm not posting these because I think they are particularly good or bad, but more for comment at this stage.

 

Mark

[M.Chapman]

3 hours ago, Brian Yarvin said:

FastStone Image Viewer will do a better job (in many ways) than bridge and is free.

 

Good idea although I don't know it will do a better job? Won't the end result be the same? FastStone offers more "bells and whistles”, but the UI is more complex as a result and technically it's only free for "home use" (which I assume therefore excludes commercial use?). I also can't spot any option to convert colour space (maybe you know how) so perhaps FastStone (like Bridge) may rely on the TIFFs already being in sRGB or AdobeRGB colour space.

 

Mark 

Edited November 9, 2019 by M.Chapman

[Brian Yarvin]

Mark, my workflow is really different than yours! I set (and re-set) color spaces in Capture1. FastStone is for sorting, evaluating and re-editing. (in my world)

[M.Chapman]

3 hours ago, Brian Yarvin said:

Mark, my workflow is really different than yours! I set (and re-set) color spaces in Capture1. FastStone is for sorting, evaluating and re-editing. (in my world)

 

It's not my workflow at all. I don't use FastStone (although I have a copy). I was simply commenting on your suggestion that Flo and Paul could use it. My workflow uses BreezeBrowser (for image culling organising and sorting) and PS CC for everything else, including colour space conversion. Sorry for any confusion.

 

Mark

[MDM]

13 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

 

 Was it submitted on it's own or as part of a larger submission?

 

 

 

14 hours ago, MDM said:

 

My image passed QC by the way. So that is a baseline for me if I do it again as I sent it on its own so it would have been examined. 

 

Yes as I wrote in my post it was on its own Mark. Otherwise it would have been meaningless. 

 

[M.Chapman]

10 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

 

Yes as I wrote in my post it was on its own Mark. Otherwise it would have been meaningless. 

 

 

Oh dear, sorry I missed that. Duh!! I must learn to read!!

 

Mark

[MDM]

4 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

 

Oh dear, sorry I missed that. Duh!! I must learn to read!!

 

Mark

 

No worries. I just had a look at your 2 images. They don't look too bad at all as they are - a little softer than I am used to then I am using a full frame 36 MP camera which allows for a lot of downsizing to sharpen up. My initial raw from the camera doesn't look so great though - work was required. I think you might want to be using a full frame camera with high dynamic range if doing this seriously.

[Harry Harrison]

17 hours ago, MDM said:

My image passed QC by the way.

That's good news, but it looked fine so I should have hoped that it would. Might you be tempted not to downsize them so much, or would the logic be that it wouldn't make any difference to their sales possibilities and it's not worth taking the risk, or do you just think that the quality wouldn't stand up.

[Old school]

19 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

 

I've done some digging, and from what I can see Adobe Bridge is FREE and could be used to browse through the TIFF format images you have on DVD and then EXPORT any images files you select in JPG format to a new location (e.g. computer hard disk) at a user selected quality level and size. Obviously this wouldn't allow you to edit the images in any way, but it might at least allow you to produce some un-edited jpgs that you could submit to Alamy to see if they pass QC. It's far from an ideal approach, as I suspect your images are MOST LIKELY to need editing to pass QC so it would be best to use Photoshop (Elements) rather than Bridge. But, if you really don't want to spend any money at this stage, and you'd like further help to try Adobe Bridge, please let us know. The first questions will be

 

1) What computer do you have?

2) Do you know what operating system is it running and which version? (Mac OSX, Windows, Linux etc.) 

3) Does it have a DVD reader that can read your dual layer DVDs

 

Mark

Hi Mark, We thank you again.  Our computer is: ENVY; BANG & OLUFSON

Operating system: WINDOWS 10

Yes. The ENVY has the ability to 'read' our dual layer DVDs at it created them.

At present, we are reading and replying to folks who have taken time to recommend software and or operating systems to work out issues of 'converting' huge TIFF to JEPG file in our ENVY hard drive. We started by looking at PHOTOSHOP on-line and we are still muddling through that source...very slow for us as we often have to ask GOOGLE what the trade-term means when the HOW-TO on PHOTOSHOP using 'trade-terms' we don't understand.

We have also noticed a sizable number of ALAMY CONTRIBUTORS are chatting with others on related topics...that is great.  Cheers, Flo and Paul

[Old school]

17 hours ago, Marianne said:

Glad the DVD player isn't blinking. 😎

 

@Brian Yarvin had a good suggestion about books.

A quick google search brought up this list of recent Photoshop/Lightroom books, most of which are probably available at your local library. I learned Photoshop about 12 years ago so I haven't read any of these myself, but I highly recommend anything by Scott Kelby  - I have read several of his books and articles, and his writing is easily understood. I've taken some one-day seminars with him as well. He knows his stuff but never talks down to you. There are helpful descriptions of each book.

 

https://bookauthority.org/books/new-adobe-photoshop-books

 

You can also look online for free videos on the Adobe site. Julianne Kost (who I've also taken classes with) writes frequently about LR especially, but I'd first search the site for beginner videos. Also, if you find a recent book by Martin Evening, his books are quite comprehensive. 

 

I've written a couple of articles about Lightroom myself. Though aimed at beginners, they assume that you understand basics such as file format and mostly discuss new features added in the past couple of years. So, I won't bother with those links. 

 

Be sure that if you do buy or take out a book/watch videos, that you are dealing with the latest version of PS Elements (basically, Photoshop lite) or the latest version of PS/LR since a lot has changed. I'm about to delve into the latest updates just released this week.

 

To help you learn the lingo, search for "file formats" and "file size" on Adobe's site or on Google to get a sense of what you're talking about in terms of size.

 

And lastly, if you continue scanning, recognize that TIFF is a lossless format, so that you can use ZIP compression to make your files significantly smaller and not need so much hard drive space. Also, you will not want to scan to jpeg because it is a lossy method and every time you save a jpeg file, it degrades slightly. Output to jpeg is the last step once you have done any work needed (retouching and metadata), Google these terms and you will understand what we are talking about. It's really not Greek once you familiarize yourself with the terms. Google "why you should shoot RAW" and you'll understand why using your camera to shoot jpegs is a real waste. 

 

Nikon used to offer weekend classes on using your camera and processing your files. Check with them or with the place where you bought your camera to see what's available. Even if you bought it online, they may be able to direct you. The place you rented the lens from (smart move BTW - you must be getting advice from some knowledgable photographer friend), they might be able to help too. Where do you live? Contributors nearby might have some suggestions. 

 

I'd also search the Alamy Forum for "similars" as it might help you with editing. Good luck! You will be so happy once you learn even the basics. 

Hi Marianne,

Yesterday, we took a bold step and GOOGLE'd PHOTOSHOP.  Slow going for us.  We found the portion of PHOTOSHOP that addressed 'conversion' from TIFF to JPEG and things got slower as we had to GOOGLE trade-terms we did not know.  We will probably email PHOTOSHOP's CUSTOMER SERVICE and quirey them about what we have and what we need in this 'conversion' process.  On-line text from PHOTOSHOP tends to 'talk over our heads' which adds to our frustration.  We haven't looked at books yet.

Home for us is Phoenix, AZ.  When we bought the ENVY, we opted for the maximum Terabyte of 3 available at that time.  We gobbled that up in 3-years with images.  We added an additional 4-terabyte with the option of one more addition.  We rely on NIKON CUSTOMER SUPPORT for many of our lens needs...the Katmai National Park recommended 80-400mm zoom lens came from NIKON and TEMPE CAMERA had the lens for rent. 

Again, Marianne, we thank you.  cheers, Flo and Paul

[Harry Harrison]

9 minutes ago, Old school said:

We will probably email PHOTOSHOP's CUSTOMER SERVICE

Well, good luck with that, Photoshop is of course the industry standard but right now you need smaller steps. Do you really not have anyone in your real life, on the ground, social network that could come in and spend a couple of hours with you? I think the veil could be lifted from your eyes if you could do that. We're talking basic stuff, so just about anyone who prefers to use a camera over a phone.

 

 

[Old school]

18 hours ago, Brian Yarvin said:

Mark, there's lots more out there that's free or really inexpensive and that easily meets the requirements of Alamy and other professional photography sales platforms. It just takes a bit of knowledge to spot. FastStone Image Viewer will do a better job (in many ways) than bridge and is free. Of course, the list of alternate editing programs is long and has been repeated too many times here.

 

Flo and Paul really need to learn the basics first though! They write "megabits" for (probably) "megabytes" and don't seem to understand basic file structures. The solution to that is free - some quality time with a few library books. It's not like they're in deep water without knowing how to swim, it's more like being in deep water without realizing that there's a technique called "swimming" that can help them cope with and eventually master that deep water. In addition,  their expectation of being excused from learning the basics because of their age is disturbing to other photographers who have been educated later in life.

 

They've asked for help and we can do it. Can we next suggest some book titles for them?

Hi Brian,

Flo and I swim just fine...just not in this pool!  We are not stupid, just ignorant of the topic. Flo and I completed COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF COLLEGE (CGS&C) and I taught COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF COLLEGE for several years to men and women all of whom had degrees and advanced degrees ((doctors and lawyers) and were commissioned in the various Army disciplines, the subject of leadership through the rank of Colonel.  First 'teaching skills' Instructors learned as Lieutenant Colonels  was our student body-Captains and Majors-did not have the same level of understanding of a specific topic...trade terms for Armored Tank  Commanders was not the same trade terms for the Signal Corps officer and vice versa.  Second, Instructors learned very quickly not to 'talk over the heads of their students' on an on-going basis.  Fortunately, the vast majority of Field Manual (FMs) had glossaries.

 

This reply brings Flo and I back to our original goal of getting help from other ALAMY CONTRIBUTORS  who have walked this path, had many 'lessons-learned' and can recommend solutions as many of you have.

Cheers, Flo and Paul

[Old school]

4 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

Well, good luck with that, Photoshop is of course the industry standard but right now you need smaller steps. Do you really not have anyone in your real life, on the ground, social network that could come in and spend a couple of hours with you? I think the veil could be lifted from your eyes if you could do that. We're talking basic stuff, so just about anyone who prefers to use a camera over a phone.

 

 

Hi Harry,

No.  When we retired from the workforce, none of our family members or friends worked in the computer field must less technical support in any industry or photography.  Our work computer usage focused on our specific job requirement...no PHOTOSHOP.  Cheers Flo and Paul

[Harry Harrison]

2 minutes ago, Old school said:

none of our family members or friends worked in the computer field

Well, no I wasn't meaning that they worked in the computer field, just anyone, of any age, that uses a digital camera would have that basic knowledge. You don't have to work in the computer field to have a computer, and you don't have to make your living from photography to have a digital camera. How about the local camera club? I suspect that someone there would be delighted to help, just as all of us have been.

[Old school]

6 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

Well, no I wasn't meaning that they worked in the computer field, just anyone, of any age, that uses a digital camera would have that basic knowledge. You don't have to work in the computer field to have a computer, and you don't have to make your living from photography to have a digital camera. How about the local camera club? I suspect that someone there would be delighted to help, just as all of us have been.

Hi Harry,

Sadly...Flo and I are it.  Our family members use their super-duper telephones.  None have any digital cameras beyond simple point and shoot (we have 2-of the Nikon's simple cigarette-sized camera's as emergency cameras) and I don't remember any family member's cameras having changeable lens.  It didn't occur to us to investigate local camera club/college campus environment including TEMPE CAMERA.   Flo and I agree we can use some serious hand-holding from digital photographers who walked this 'conversion' from TIFF to JPEG AND appreciate that they, too, were beginners.  Great recommendation.  cheers, Flo and Paul

[Brian Yarvin]

1 hour ago, Old school said:

This reply brings Flo and I back to our original goal of getting help from other ALAMY CONTRIBUTORS  who have walked this path, had many 'lessons-learned' and can recommend solutions as many of you have.

Cheers, Flo and Paul

 

If this is your goal, then I have nothing more to add. Join a camera club, learn the basics, read some books, learn the techniques you need to know in order to swim in the very deep and dangerous pool called stock photography, and then take your place among the contributors. I for one am cheering for you.

[Old school]

21 minutes ago, Brian Yarvin said:

 

If this is your goal, then I have nothing more to add. Join a camera club, learn the basics, read some books, learn the techniques you need to know in order to swim in the very deep and dangerous pool called stock photography, and then take your place among the contributors. I for one am cheering for you.

Dear Brian, We thank you for your time and efforts in helping us with our goals. cheers, Flo and Paul