Progress with RT 5.9 Film Negative

Software RawTherapee
22

Hello Rick, thanks for the sample image. Here’s my attempt, using the minimum number of steps/adjustments:
DSCF8612.jpg.out.pp3 (13.6 KB)

DSCF8612
DSCF86121280×1920 687 KB

I agree with you that it’s much easier to get a good result using “Auto-matched camera profile”, and in fact i have a question: why the custom DCP profile you were trying to use is called “Fujifilm X-Pro3 …”, when the image has been taken with a Fuji X-T20 ? Isn’t that a profile for a different camera?

Also, since the DCP file name ends with “Provia”, i suspect it’s doing some hue mapping to convey a specific “look” to the pictures, which could throw off the inversion process.

So, here’s my procedure:

  • open the raw file in RT
  • in Color Management, select “Auto-matched camera profile” and check all three flags: Tone Curve, Base table, Look table
  • turn on Film Negative module
  • click the “Pick neutral spots” button, and pick:
    • the over-exposed reflection on the back of the headlamp (see below): this is a lucky spot, as it’s the most dense spot in the entire neg :wink:
    • the shadow area under said headlamp (see below). The shadow area on the steering wheel could also do.
  • click the “Pick white balance spot” button, and pick the whitest spot in the cloud (see below)

image

  • adjust the “Output level” slider to brighten the picture
  • adjust the “Reference exponent” slider to boost the contrast
  • use “Tone curve 1” just to stretch the histogram (just quickly set the min and max input values, no actual “curve”)
  • finally, in L*a*b* Adjustments, raise the Chromaticity slider to boost the colors just a bit.

I assume these are John Deere tractors; here’s a random picture i googled for comparison:

Imgur

… the color seems pretty similar :slight_smile:

Regarding your question:

You can do that with the usual “Pick neutral spots” button, choosing a spot of unexposed negative as one of the two spots (the other one should be a dense spot, which was white or light grey in the original scene)

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