If you shoot film on the side, among the most useful skills you can learn is digitizing your negatives. Thinking of home developing? You will definitely need to scan your negatives afterwards. There are several ways to scan 35mm film slides and negatives today. But if you just want to get started, your DSLR or mirrorless camera and a macro lens will do.
In the video above, Canada-based video editor and cinematographer Mark Holtze shared how he scans and edits his 35mm film slides and negatives at home. After finding some Kodachrome slides from his parents’ road trip, he decided to use his downtime last year to digitize them. It’s easy to see why he called it a nice distraction. Kodachrome has long been discontinued, but it remains one of the most revered film stocks in the history of photography.
Whether you want to do the same with your own family photos, or need it for your 35mm film photography today, Holtze’s tips are worth a try. All you need are your camera, a macro lens, a tripod, and a light source for your negatives. Once you’ve got your scans, of course, you’ll need to pop them in Lightroom and/or Photoshop bring their colors and details to life. So, Holtze also covered that in the second half of his video.
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Thank you Joy for this video from Mark Holtze. It opens up a door to a collection of slides I have when I was once involved with documenting sailing ships and other nautical subjects.
I do not have Photoshop, but I do have Photoshop Elements. With this app you can load the digital image of a print negative as a base layer and then add the Adjustment Layer “Invert.” It works perfectly. Then proceed as Mark instructed.