[Leica] IMGS: Color Balancing (Blue Trees)

[jnelon]

Tina,
I'm so glad you posted your Kodachrome slides. I have been furiously
scanning my old slides, especially after I found some of the color problems
you're showing in your posts. I had thought Kodachrome would live forever.
Them I used a slide from Beijing that had some of the same characteristics
that you're experiencing. I was devastated thinking that I had lost a large
number of the Beijing show slides to this color problem. I haven't been able
to figure out whether the dyes shifted, or whether we stored/shipped them
improperly and the heat/humidity took their toll. And then I tried to put
together a show using Kodachromes from 1992 when I did a WWII 50-year
retrospective in Europe. My slides of the Brandenburg gate had the same
gun-metal look to them as the one you posted recently. I spent forever
trying to add/subtract color or effects, with minimal satisfaction. And then
you popped up with the same experience. I'm using a Nikon LS-4000 CoolScan
with Vuescan. I've tried all sorts of settings in Vuescan including ones
you've mentioned (infrared/cleaning/etc.), all to limited satisfaction. On
the other hand, I'm in the midst of scanning some truly old Kodachromes from
my wife's grandparents, taken in the early '50's. The colors are virtually
unchanged, although the slide material itself frequently shows some warping.
I'm left with the theory that perhaps Kodak changed some of its processing
chemistry or procedures during the 1980's-1990's era, as my Greece slides
from 1982 are also virtually worthless, from a color perspective. 
I'm all ears to hear what you and others might think about any of this. 
Jim

James R. Nelon
Partner
WNDA Studios
O: +1.207.389.4676
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Email: JNelon at WNDAStudios.com
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LinkedIn: https://LinkedIn.com/in/JamesNelon
Highlight Reel: https://Vimeo.com/252904552

-----Original Message-----
From: LUG [mailto:lug-bounces+jnelon=nelonassociates.com at leica-users.org] On
Behalf Of Tina Manley via LUG
Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2019 5:37 PM
To: MUGers at yahoogroups.com; lug; paw; seephoto; Olympus Camera Discussion
Cc: Tina Manley
Subject: [Leica] IMGS: Color Balancing (Blue Trees)

PESO:

I'm scanning 7000 slides from Switzerland, most of them Kodachromes, most
from 1989.  One category is 56773 - Switzerland Countryside.  If you have
been to Switzerland, you know that the Swiss countryside is beautiful.  I
want to get it right.  Here is the original scan, scanned on the Nikon
LS5000 with Vuescan set for Kodachrome:

https://pbase.com/tinamanley/image/170112330

It's too dark and the trees are blue.

I lightened it and balanced the color based on the white house in the
foreground:

https://pbase.com/tinamanley/image/170112332

Everything looks fine except the trees in the distance are blue.  I
remember them being blue but maybe I'm wrong.  I subtracted the blue.

https://pbase.com/tinamanley/image/170112333

Now everything looks too green.  I have many, many of these slides to
adjust and want to get it right but believable.

What do you think?

C&C greatly appreciated.

Tina

-- 
Tina Manley
www.tinamanley.com
http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley
<http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography/3B49552F-90A0-4D0A-A11D-2175C937AA91
/Tina+Manley.html>
*https://www.alamy.com/portfolio/649596.html
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