<p>I'm sure someone with more expertise than I will chime in. But I think that the main problem with extracting shadow detail in your setup is your scanner. The Epsons (I have the V750) are good for what they are, but they're not really high-quality dedicated film scanners. Their limited dynamic range would prevent them from extracting detail especially in areas where the film is quite dense, such as the shadows in transparency film. And they're far from ideal for scanning 35mm film (I managed to track down a Nikon Coolscan V for that), as the real--not the listed--resolution really isn't enough to produce a very high res file from that format.</p>
<p>The two photographers you mentioned (I love their work, by the way, and have books by both--including Divided Soul--on my shelf) almost certainly had the resources to get their work drum-scanned for publication. This method, which is expensive and becoming harder to find available, at least locally nowadays, will extract the greatest detail and dynamic range from slide film.</p>
<p>The purple shadows may be a bit easier to fix--have you tried using a Selective Color adjustment layer to bring your blacks back to a more neutral tone? That and a Curves adjustment layer, working when needed in the individual channels, would probably be your best methods of for getting the colors and contrast you want. Using Auto-anything in Photoshop may correct some parameter, but introduce undesirable changes elsewhere. The two adjustment layer types I mentioned above give you the greatest control at targeting and finely adjusting specific areas you wish to address.</p>
<p>Dye transfer printing definitely had its own, very impressive, look. But with the flexibility and power of Photoshop, assuming you get a good file to start with (the scanner, especially, and your expertise with it will determine that), you should be able to get an image that can be printed to decently approximate on modern colour papers what was able to be obtained on dye transfer prints so laboriously decades ago.</p>
