I have been trying to scan a slide so that it actually looks like the slide I see on the light table and it's not happening. I use vuescan, profiled the scanner (Epson 4990) using a IT8 target, did Lock Exposure and Lock Film Base Color, calibrated my monitor with a Spyder and it still is not even close. The slide contains a lot of water and the color casts in the water are awful. Does anyone have any tricks to make the Scan look actually like the slide? What does your workflow consist of?

Hmm.. sounds tricky. Try scanning another slide or negative, see how the scanner/vuescan reacts. I'd start there, just to make sure your calibration is on target. Sounds to me like that could very well be the culprit.

1) make sure that your monitor is calibrated
2) scan at max bit depth
3) if possible see if the calibrated scan of the target is the same as what you see on the screen.
3a) if not start removing scanner input b. first remove any scaner optimization and do it in PS; second remove any scanner profiles.

I got the idea to scan the file as a Raw DNG into instead of as a Tiff. That seems to work better. At least Photoshop it makes it easier to open the Raw file and get the colors right using Color Temperature controls etc. Looks like I may need to play with the scanner calibration stuff a little more in Vuescan at some point.

I'd put equal or greater focus on learning how to colour correct via the curves tool. Colour temp is global adjustment which far more limiting.

Hello domaz,

Just a thought ...

Is your light table or light box fitted with daylight tubes and if so ... any idear about their color temp (K) ... as this may possibly be a contributing factor ;)

Kind Regards,
Richard

I have been trying to scan a slide so that it actually looks like the slide I see on the light table and it's not happening. I use vuescan, profiled the scanner (Epson 4990) using a IT8 target, did Lock Exposure and Lock Film Base Color, calibrated my monitor with a Spyder and it still is not even close. The slide contains a lot of water and the color casts in the water are awful. Does anyone have any tricks to make the Scan look actually like the slide? What does your workflow consist of?

Here's a thought: see if you can get the IT8 target to look like the IT8 target. I don't have any specific suggestions, but if I were in your place I bet I'd be having trouble too. I'd try removing all profiles, try to understand the effect of each profile applied, try to find a way to check that each calibration was correct, try to understand what is going on when a profile is applied. Perhaps the calibration is for reflective targets only and you need another for transparencies and another for negatives.