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Ask The Doctor
Do your prints look weak, or is your memory card corrupted? Confused about file
formats, or has dpi got you down? Have questions about cameras, printers or
scanners and can’t find the information you need? Just ask the Photo Doc
and he’ll do his best to set you straight, and in the bargain share the
information with your fellow readers. Please send your queries to: colorbat@colorbat.com
Be sure to put “Photo Doc” in the subject line. The Doc reserves
the right to edit for content and space on any questions sent in.
Q. My daughter-in-law just sent me the slides that my son,
who died several years ago, took on his first trip to Europe at the age of 15
in 1973. I’d like to preserve them on a CD for my grandson but I don't
know where to start. I’ve only used a computer for about a year, and I
am now using a digital camera and trying to gain do-as-I-go experience with
the help of your magazine. What program is simple enough for a neophyte like
me to use? Is there a book I can buy with step by step instructions?
D. P. via e-mail
A. Before you save slides to CDs, they must be converted into
digital image files using a scanner. The type that you need is called a "film
scanner." See below for more details. Then go to www.amazon.com and look
up Mastering Digital Scanning with Slides, Film, and Transparencies by David
D. Busch (Paperback -October 29, 2003). You have a lot of learning ahead of
you, but just take your time—it isn't brain surgery. Alternately, you
can take the slides to a local service company and pay them to do the job for
you. Many one-hour labs now offer scanning services (or can tell you who in
your community does).
Q. How do I remove redeye from my pictures? Better yet, how
can I eliminate it all together?
K.C. via e-mail
A. To totally eliminate redeye the flash must be further from
the center of the lens than the focal length of the lens. Thus, if you’re
using a 50mm lens, the center of the flash gun needs to be more than 50mm from
the center of the lens. Most cameras with built-in flash guns cannot meet this
requirement. While there are automatic redeye removal tools in some photo editing
programs, here’s a quick primer on how to do it manually using Photoshop:
Enlarge the image until the single eyeball almost fills the entire monitor screen.
Select the Paint Brush tool. Set the foreground color to black. Notice that
only the pupil portion of the eye is red.
Select a soft-edged brush about 1/2 to 2/3 the diameter of the pupil. Paint
in black over the pupil using several strokes of the brush. When you are finished,
the pupil will be black and the color of the iris will still show. Sometimes
some of the red color will spill over onto the iris. If this occurs, you need
to restore the color of the iris. Use the eye dropper tool to select the iris
color as a foreground color and, using a small soft-edged brush, paint back
in the iris color. Next, select the color white for the foreground color. Using
the Paint Brush tool, select a very tiny, hard-edged brush and paint in a single
white dot over the pupil at either the 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock position on the
outer edge of the pupil. This is called a catchlight.
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