Crummy old film

Forty years ago, I shot a roll of that filmstock stuff from Hollywood. Now the colors have all gone icky. Anyone else have this problem? BTW, I have the same problem with old Agfachrome. Will any software repair this?

There's only a very slim chance of fixing the colors. Try converting to B&W, it looked OK when I just tried it.

Perhaps not a great fix, but I've used it on some of my old photos I've attempted to resurrect. In this case I used GIMP.

Perhaps not a great fix, but I've used it on some of my old photos I've attempted to resurrect. In this case I used GIMP.

[ATTACH=full]1433356[/ATTACH]

Looks better.

As you know, color films are fabricated by sandwiching black & white film emulsions on a single base. Separate layers record, red light radiated by the scene is recorded on one layer, another records the blue and still another the green light. During developing, these layers laydown black & white metallic silver images. As developing proceeds, cyan (blue+green) dye is deposited in the red recording layer in proportion to the amount of silver present in that layer. Likewise yellow dye is deposited in the blue layer and magenta (red+blue) is deposited in the green layer. After this dye laydown, all the silver is dissolved away.

 

Now all still camera films except Kodachrome have these dyes pre-loaded in the film during manufacturing. These films are called “incorporated” color films. The dyes used are incomplete, in fact they are colorless or nearly colorless (“leuco” state Greek for white). All three dyes need just one missing ingredient, and it is contained in the color developer solution. During processing these three dyes receive this missing ingredient in proportion to the amount of silver laydown in that layer. Upon receipt, they blossom into a full-blown dye. This clever method simplifies the developing process as compared to Kodachrome which requires three sperate color developing steps.

 

Finding three dyes of appropriate color that are transparent and change state to brilliant is next to impossible. A tip of the hat to Kodak who is the author. Sorry to report that the only dyes that work this way are organic and thus fugitive (fade over time).

 

Early incorporated films were rinsed in formaldehyde that slowed the fading. Labeled a carcinogenic it was removed and replaced with a biocide. In other words, organic dyes will in time fade, all we can do is admire them for a time. The goal, archival films with a half-life of about 100 years. Any misstep in processing reduces longevity.

Alan has it

 

see Some examples of striking differences in slide preservation

 

You can often get part of the way by loading the image, click with white 'dropper' on the lightest area, 'black dropper" on the darkest area...

 

Simply went for a Tri-Xish look.

Alan has it

 

see Some examples of striking differences in slide preservation

 

You can often get part of the way by loading the image, click with white 'dropper' on the lightest area, 'black dropper" on the darkest area...

 

Where do I find these droppers on PS Elements?

At risk of breaking down, I post a Kodachrome also taken 40 years ago.

I don't know specifically about Elements, but Image>Adjustments>Levels then the three droppers are near the bottom dark to the left.

 

That's just a good place to start with finer tuning if needed.

Edited July 18, 2022 by JDMvW

I actually like it.