Ghetto Scan - Paper Tweak

Have an account? Login | New to Lomography? Register | Lab | Current Site:

Ghetto Scan - Paper Tweak

April 11, 2010 13 comments 21 likes 4 submissions

Using the spring sunshine, a window, a camera and a piece of paper to scan some negatives.

I read this Tipster about Ghetto Scanning and thought I would give it a try, as I don’t have a scanner of my own.

I tried it first as falsedigital explained, by taping the negatives to a window and using a digital camera to photograph them, but found that I could see the scenery outside through my negatives. It was a very cool effect but not exactly what I wanted at the time. Anyway, I taped a piece of plain paper between the window and the negatives and, problem solved. The negative photos came out well and the paper gave the image a strange grainy texture.

Then you just INVERT!

The results are hardly perfect, and quite varied due to the multitude of factors like the digital camera focus, paper grains and even the movement of the sun and clouds. Regardless, for a beginner with no special software it is a very satisfying experiment.

I drained the saturation on these because the colours went a little crazy, maybe someone more tech savvy could explain how to avoid that. Aside from that I didn’t edit a thing.

A special thank you to the original tipster for the great idea.
Why not try it out, see what happens!

written by spiltink

Please login to get more out of this site

You are currently not logged in, do so now to add comments, like articles as well as photos, submit to competitions, translate articles and gain access to unlimited photo upload! If you are not registered yet, go here to find out more about Lomography and join now! If you just want a limited account for now you can use Twitter or Facebook. We would love to have you as a member here!

21 people like this article

Liking articles helps us to present the best ones to you and others. 21 people like this article. 21 people like this article: disdis, vicuna, stouf, paramir, shoujoai, ipdegirl, jaalvarez, adi_totp, mandashitley, erikamentari, ecchymoses, izaiza, mcrstar, cowboy, edda, caromi, phiphu, smbilgin, noe_arteaga, alyssaphotographsyou, and 110isnotdead.

13 comments

lomosexual_manboy

I like the texture created from the paper backing. It makes these shots look extremely vintage and worn.

about 3 years ago · report as spam
vicuna

yeah, love the vintage texture of the shots :)

about 3 years ago · report as spam
stouf

Yeah ! Very cool results ! Love N°5 !!!

about 3 years ago · report as spam
tifcompton

lol it is ghetto and yes I've tried it before with 120 processed film... the problem that i ran into was i got the reflection of my digital camera off the glossy negative. it seemed like a good idea...

about 3 years ago · report as spam
paramir

great! the paper texture is working really nice! nice images

about 3 years ago · report as spam
tifcompton

a variation of this is to crank up the brightness on your computer monitor, set your background to a nice spicy blue color to shine through and cancel out the browny tone of your negative, and then when you invert, the colors aren't so wacky. unless you like that sort of effect.

about 3 years ago · report as spam
cinzinc

well done~ new flavor to the pictures =)

about 3 years ago · report as spam
shoujoai

for some reasons I really need a digital camera *sight*

about 3 years ago · report as spam
jaalvarez

Great tipster !!!!
Yesterday I develope a B&W film.
Today, 18:00 PM, I see this tipster ...
Today, 18:30 I have this results !!!!
http://www.lomograph(…)can-digital

about 3 years ago · report as spam
panelomo

coolio tipster!

about 3 years ago · report as spam
@scherbi

To properly invert color negatives, first use the eyedropper tool to get the base color of the film stock. Create a new layer, and fill it with that color. Invert that layer and set it to overlay(?) mode. Merge layers. Invert. Works in the gimp or Photosohop, or similar. If I've remembered correctly that is. Also, if you put some distance between the negative and the paper, the effect of the paper texture will be diminished.

about 3 years ago · report as spam
@scherbi

Here's some step-by-step instructions to invert color negative scans in the gimp: http://www.freecolormanagement.com/sane/gimp_negative_scanning.html

about 3 years ago · report as spam
spiltink

Thanks for all the comments and votes.

@scherbi Thanks for the tips, I don't have any editing software at all though. I probably should get some, and a scanner.

Glad people enjoyed.

about 3 years ago · report as spam