Scan of 2 transparencies and coloured plastic in one holder replicatable with 2 individual scans and coloured layer composited in Photoshop CS?

[jon_marks1]

<p>Hi guys.<br>

As you can probably guess from the question, Photoshop isn't my forte...<br>

My girlfriend did a photography degree years ago, and ended up with some slides, each of which is made up of a couple of transparencies with a piece of coloured plastic behind them in a single slide holder to form a composite image. I had thought I could scan each of these transparencies individually and then place a coloured layer over them in Photoshop to get the same result (out of curiosity to see how it would work, and on the assumption the final result might be sharper and more detailed), but I can't seem to get a 100% likeness.<br>

While I can get close-ish with a 50% opacity top transparency blended with hard light to a 100% opacity background with a 50-ish% opaque coloured layer over the top and twiddling of curves and a little colour balancing, it ain't the same thing. Is there any way to produce a compsite of the two individually scanned transparencies with a coloured layer in Photoshop which would be indentical to scanning the two transparencies and piece of coloured plastic together in a single slide holder?<br>

I'm using a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual IV scanner and Photoshop CS on an XP PC.<br>

Cheers, Jon.</p>

[sheldonnalos]

<p>One thing that might help is tweaking each individual image layer with a clipping mask curves adjustment layer. If you haven't used it before, a clipping mask allows you to limit the effect of an adjustment layer to just a single layer as opposed to the whole stack.</p>

<p>You can also use blending modes on each adjustment layer to help fine tune the look you are after. I found that a strong contrast addition on a curves adjustment layer, set to luminosity blending mode, had a very profound effect.</p>

<p>To create a clipping mask, just add the adjustment layer above the layer you want to effect, then hold down the "Alt" key and click the little line between the two layers. You should get a little double circle cursor icon while hovering over the line and holding the alt key.</p>

[User_503771]

<p>Why not just scan all three and make your composite that way? The colored plastic no doubt has its own unique color.</p>

<p>Welcome to the world of art reproduction, where it can take a well-trained pro photographer two weeks or more to nail the colors in a painting.</p>