[Converting Scanned Negatives]

I have a slide duplicator that I have made a negative carrier for and copied some old 35mm Colour negatives to digital using a 6Mp DSLR.

I'm trying to find a reasonably painless way of converting these negatives to digital positives, but finding the going very hard. My RAW processor doesn't support colour inversion and when I put the negative into PSP X I can't get any decent results.

I like using PDN for some of my post processing - for Layers work I far prefer it to PSP. And I know that the workflow after capture of the negative to TIFF is roughly:

1. Apply a CYAN mask (to remove the orange cast of the cellulose film)

2. Increase contrast

3. Invert

2 and 3 I can do fine with PDN, but how do I apply a colour mask to counter the Orange cast?

If anyone has details (including settings) for negative conversion I'd very much appreciate it.

Neil

[Image Umbrella: Image Modification/Manipulation]

I think I've got the right umbrella thread for this - I'm sure someone will kick me off elsewhere if not.

Someone on a flickr group had a suggestion for modification of an image I had posted for critique. This was the result of the work I did using PDN. The background sunset was taken using a Pentax K100D DSLR and the helicopter using a Panasonic DMC TZ3 Point and Shoot.

I duplicated the helicopter layer, which is a B&W conversion of the original image - that conversion done in my RAW processor - Bibble Lite. I left the middle B & W layer as a mask and merged the top layer using "multiply" to get this end result that I was really pleased with:

Neil

[The Pictorium! Post your created or edited images here!]

NeilMacG now that is one nice picture. agree with you the plugin outline use on this one is smack on. be interesting if you could put just thumbs of the original pictures for us to compare.

These are smaller versions of the original images I was working with:

(as the base layer)

I was showing what I had been doing to some friends at work who liked the one I posted yesterday, but they said they actually preferred this one below (which was using Difference Blending of the layers).. I'm not so sure myself - I prefer the simplicity of the one with the Outline effect applied afterwards:

[The Pictorium! Post your created or edited images here!]

I really need to thank Boltbait for the Outline effect as the final component of this image. Two of my photos merged together in layers followed by the Outline effect. I really do like this even though it didn't take a lot of effort on my part.

Neil

[Retrieving History Info]

The only thing it doesn't do is draw for you

Is that in the next release then?

Thanks anyway. Guess I'll have to make notes like I'm supposed to.

Neil

[Retrieving History Info]

Thanks Ash,

I did have a look at ScriptLab, but I got the idea it only worked on Effects. It doesn't seem to be capable of "recording" any actions from the Adjustments, Edit or Image or Layer menus. if I've got that wrong please let me know.

Neil

[Retrieving History Info]

Hi,

I've had a bit of a search and I've found some postings about saving history with a view to re-applying that set of steps automatically. I mention that because that is NOT what I want.

I would like to be able to save the descriptions of each action from the history window. The reason is that I have started a distance learning course which may eventually lead to a BA Hons Degree in Photography (http://www.oca-uk.com) One of the key requirements is that I keep a log of what I do to produce the images I present for assessment. Clearly when I am working on an image the History knows what actions I have taken since the editing session began, and because I am a bit of a lazy sort and like to use technology where I can, I'd like to be able to save off the contents of the history log to a text file.

I suspect that's not possible, but no harm asking.

Neil

[The Pictorium! Post your created or edited images here!]

Thanks To Topezia and Trek for your kind comments - thus stuff is all a bit daunting for me at the moment.

I'm well impressed with the artwork from you guys - especially that neat spaceship from Madjik.

I'm just thinking about trying something for a sig, but not sure where to start.

Neil

[Embedded Thumbnails in photos not updated on Save]

Thanks Boltbait,

I'll try that.

Neil

[Embedded Thumbnails in photos not updated on Save]

Hi,

I've manipulated a couple of my photos with PDN and am very happy with the results, however Explorer continues to show the original thumbnail image from when I last created the image or edited it with another processor (such as Bibble which I use for RAW image conversion as PDN doesn't support .PEF files.)

I undertook a forum search and found one or two references to thumbnails not updating due to explorer not having been refreshed, however when I use photome to look at the embedded info in the JPEG files that I have generated, the original thumbnail is still embedded.

For example:

I produced this jpeg file using PDN from an image that had been all colour:

However the embedded thumbnail can be seen in this photome screenshot of the EXIF/Embedded data:

Is this a bug - or is there something I'm not doing correctly?

Neil

[New rule -- Do not bite newbies]

Now tonight I've just finished working on a photo using PDN and I'm quite pleased with the results and would like to leave word of how I sorted it out after my initial requests for help. But After a quick scan of some threads I'm feeling really threatened that unless I read every little rule and thread about posting images I'll be immediately cut down and thread locked. That really does seem like a shame.

Just post your image in the Pictorium: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1072

Done,

thx

Neil

[The Pictorium! Post your created or edited images here!]

I've just had a go at my first more complex image manipulation of one of my own photos. Been using PDN for a little while now for some basic photo editing, but beginning to use it for some slightly more advanced stuff (for me that is)

It could do with a bit more work to get the selection a bit more right, but here are the results so far. I've eventually worked out how to select multiple areas and fine-tune the selection but it does feel like hard work. After selecting the butterfly I inverted the selection and applied a B&W adjustment. I also applied some feathering using the feather effect plug-in, but not sure if I was using it correctly. Your comments appreciated.

I've got a question regarding embedded thumbnails relating to this image. Which is the best forum area to post that in?

Neil

[New rule -- Do not bite newbies]

Hi Guys,

I'm a relative newbie (2 or 3 threads - one of which got locked straight away 'cos I broke the rules).

Of all the fora (plural for forum?) I participate in - this is the least friendly of them all.

I've looked at various threads where "the coders" clearly get p***ed off with users and it does feel like a very cliquey society where you've got to go through some sort of initiation before you can be considered OK.

Now tonight I've just finished working on a photo using PDN and I'm quite pleased with the results and would like to leave word of how I sorted it out after my initial requests for help. But After a quick scan of some threads I'm feeling really threatened that unless I read every little rule and thread about posting images I'll be immediately cut down and thread locked. That really does seem like a shame.

Most other places I visit take a kindly view of newbies and tolerate all but gross rule breaking.

One Site I'm a member of (I'm a pilot and this society also get's a bit cliquey at times as well) introduced a student's forum. No flaming, biting or any other criticism of posters in that forum is allowed. You can post general pleas for help etc. If that sort of message is posted in the wrong (e.g. General Discussion) forum then the Mod's just move it to the Stude's forum. That way - those who don't want to be bothered with inane comments from newbies aren't, but those who want to help those starting out can and the site is deemed friendly but still with banter and controversy.

Hoping I haven't upset anyone....

Neil

[Suggestions for selecting areas for working with Layers]

To use the magic wand select it and click on the part of the image you want to select. If it selects too much of the image press Ctrl-Z, drag the tolerance until the number is a bit lower and try again. To select more than one part with MW hold down Ctrl while selecting. To move the selection to a new layer press Ctrl-X and then Ctrl-Shift-V.

Thanks - I'm getting to grips with this (I think) there was some very useful stuff about the Magic wand in the link I found and put in my second posting.

Neil

[Suggestions for selecting areas for working with Layers]

With the Selection tools, if you'll look at the context toolbar, you'll see options for Selection Mode. If you switch it from "Normal" to "Add," it will add to the selection; this allows more precision.

I don't understand what this question has to do with Layers or Airbrush, though.

Thanks for that tip - I'm trying it out now.

The layers thing is me trying to understand when to use them and when not (this applies to any photo editing software - I've just never advanced that far). The airbrush thingy is me getting confused about the brush selection tool (on another thread when I was searching here someone had described it the Airbrush) that exists in PS and trying to find if there was something similar in PDN.

Neil

[Suggestions for selecting areas for working with Layers]

Doh - Always seems to happen.

I searched before I posted and couldn't seem to find the answers I wanted.

Just had a quick rummage through the first couple of screens of postings and found this buried in a post:

http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/en/MagicWand.html

This helps a lot, but I do still wonder what happens if you can't get exactly what you want and need to be more precise.

Neil

[Suggestions for selecting areas for working with Layers]

Hi,

I'm just trying to get to grips with working in Layers. Something in various photo editing tools that I have avoided for as long as possible. However it seems to me that to advance any further with my editing skills I need to make good use of layers.

One of the bits I'm struggling with is how best to select specific areas of a photo (for example to desaturate a background from a person). I realise there is the magic wand and lasso but once having selected part of what I want to work with I can't figure out how to complete the selection process. In PS Elements there is an Airbrush tool that helps with this, but as that's not available here I'm wondering how people complete the selection process in it's absence?

TIA

Neil

[Adding file types to a Plugin File Dialog]

Firstly - apologies for generic title on previous post. I susbscribe to lots of forums and haven't seen that one before. Ooops.

Hi I'm new to Paint.net but it does seem to be an excellent program. There is a plugin to enable RAW files to be loaded (Rawloader) but the default compiled code does not include support for Pentax .pef files although the converter that it uses (DCRAW) does.

Others have mentioned being able to use Visual Studio c# Express to modify the file open dialog to enable .pef files to be converted.

I'm an experienced VBA/VBScript programmer and have a vague awareness of c derivate program languages but this is first time I've wanted to do something in earnest with a c# program.

My slghtly modified copy of the source code is shown below However when I try to build the project I get an error as follows:

Error 1 'PaintDotNet.FileType.FileType(string, bool, bool, bool, bool, bool, string[])' is obsolete: 'Use the FileType(string, FileTypeFlags, string[]) overload instead' C:\Downloads\PhotoEditing\RawLoaderSource\RawLoader\RawLoader.cs 21 10 RawLoader

All I've done is add the .pef extension into the line commented //extensions. Can anyone help me understand why it won't compile even though I had understood it was originally compiled with the same c# compiler.

Possibly I need training in c# but I've looked at the tutorials and the language generally makes sense to me, but I'm hoping it's something reasonably simple to sort this out. If not can anyone suggest some reading material to help with this particular aspect of the language.

Many thanks - Neil

****************Source Code*****************************

using System;

using System.IO;

using System.Configuration;

using System.Windows.Forms;

using PaintDotNet;

namespace RawLoader

{

public class RAWFileTypes : IFileTypeFactory

{

public static readonly FileType Raw = new RawFileType();

private static FileType[] fileTypes = new FileType[] { Raw };

public FileType[] GetFileTypeInstances()

{

return (FileType[])fileTypes.Clone();

}

}

public class RawFileType : FileType

{

private String runpath, arguments;

public RawFileType() : base( "Raw Camera Images",

false, // does not support layers

false, // does not support custom headers

false, // does support saving

true, // does support loading

false, // does not save with progress

new string[] { ".pef", ".dng", ".nef", ".crw", ".cr2", ".mrw", ".raf", ".x3f", ".orf", ".raw" } ) // extensions

{

}

protected override Document OnLoad(System.IO.Stream input)

{

MemoryStream TiffStream = new MemoryStream();

// Load Settings

runpath = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["path"];

if (runpath == null) runpath = "dcraw.exe";

arguments = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["arguments"];

if (arguments == null) arguments = "-w -q 3 -n 3";

// Write Stream to temporary file

using (TempFile RawFile = new TempFile())

{

RawFile.WriteStream(input);

// Run DCRaw and capture its StandardOutput into temporary Tiff memory stream

ProcessOutput DCRaw = new ProcessOutput(runpath, arguments + " -c -T \"" + RawFile.Path + "\"");

StreamUtils.ReadWriteStream(DCRaw.Stream,TiffStream);

DCRaw.WaitForExit();

}

// Use default Tiff loader to load from Tiff memory stream

TiffStream.Position = 0;

FileType TiffHandler = PdnFileTypes.Tiff;

return TiffHandler.Load(TiffStream);

}

}

}

[Newbie help please]

Hi I'm new to Paint.net but it does seem to be an excellent program. There is a plugin to enable RAW files to be loaded (Rawloader) but the default compiled code does not include support for Pentax .pef files although the converter that it uses (DCRAW) does.

Others have mentioned being able to use Visual Studio c# Express to modify the file open dialog to enable .pef files to be converted.

I'm an experienced VBA/VBScript programmer and have a vague awareness of c derivate program languages but this is first time I've wanted to do something in earnest with a c# program.

My slghtly modified copy of the source code is shown below However when I try to build the project I get an error as follows:

Error 1 'PaintDotNet.FileType.FileType(string, bool, bool, bool, bool, bool, string[])' is obsolete: 'Use the FileType(string, FileTypeFlags, string[]) overload instead' C:\Downloads\PhotoEditing\RawLoaderSource\RawLoader\RawLoader.cs 21 10 RawLoader

All I've done is add the .pef extension into the line commented //extensions. Can anyone help me understand why it won't compile even though I had understood it was originally compiled with the same c# compiler.

Many thanks - Neil

****************Source Code*****************************

using System;

using System.IO;

using System.Configuration;

using System.Windows.Forms;

using PaintDotNet;

namespace RawLoader

{

public class RAWFileTypes : IFileTypeFactory

{

public static readonly FileType Raw = new RawFileType();

private static FileType[] fileTypes = new FileType[] { Raw };

public FileType[] GetFileTypeInstances()

{

return (FileType[])fileTypes.Clone();

}

}

public class RawFileType : FileType

{

private String runpath, arguments;

public RawFileType() : base( "Raw Camera Images",

false, // does not support layers

false, // does not support custom headers

false, // does support saving

true, // does support loading

false, // does not save with progress

new string[] { ".pef", ".dng", ".nef", ".crw", ".cr2", ".mrw", ".raf", ".x3f", ".orf", ".raw" } ) // extensions

{

}

protected override Document OnLoad(System.IO.Stream input)

{

MemoryStream TiffStream = new MemoryStream();

// Load Settings

runpath = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["path"];

if (runpath == null) runpath = "dcraw.exe";

arguments = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["arguments"];

if (arguments == null) arguments = "-w -q 3 -n 3";

// Write Stream to temporary file

using (TempFile RawFile = new TempFile())

{

RawFile.WriteStream(input);

// Run DCRaw and capture its StandardOutput into temporary Tiff memory stream

ProcessOutput DCRaw = new ProcessOutput(runpath, arguments + " -c -T \"" + RawFile.Path + "\"");

StreamUtils.ReadWriteStream(DCRaw.Stream,TiffStream);

DCRaw.WaitForExit();

}

// Use default Tiff loader to load from Tiff memory stream

TiffStream.Position = 0;

FileType TiffHandler = PdnFileTypes.Tiff;

return TiffHandler.Load(TiffStream);

}

}

}