WHY are traditional photographers and archivists, dealing with SCANS, left out of discussions on COLOR CORRECTION??

Been incredibly depressed and lethargic. Best way to get outta it: work on my photos.

I started finally looking at some info I’ve gotten about Adobe Lightroom including Victoria Bampton, The Lightroom Queen and the cool guys from #LightroomSummit.

BUT following THEIR directions made my photos look far worse! My own instincts using Adobe Lightroom Basic Develop mode works for FILM!!

The first class I saw was about color. And the teacher, a lovely man from Ireland, SKIPPED some of the tools I use. HE said, wrongly assuming, they were not important. URGH.

ALL their info is for RAW and DIGITAL files. I shot with FILM cos that is what we had decades ago.

I SHOULD write a chapter on how to fix photos. First, have an idea what you are going for. Reality is best for me.

And that means use the tools that work, and pay no mind to info designed for raw and digital files.

BUT the worst part: NO ONE GIVES A DAMN about FILM photos. Color me avidly disappointed, but not surprised.

I don’t use AI prompts to fix my photos ever!

Before: most photos are washed out and/or covered with a blah overlay. Yellow (bright or dark), Red or Blue. Or this Salmon is quite common.

I have to manipulate a lot of sliders many times. Similar to my photo of Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, Feb 8, 1979, San Francisco.

Often had to edit in Lightroom, then into #AdobePhotoshop to use its LEVELS. Then back to Adobe Lightroom.

I DID NOT save many original files cos I have too many scans as is. But this gives ya an idea, before file and typical after

NOTE all the sliders on the right. Normally the arrows in the middle of the slider, not moved to the right:

However, IF you do shot digital, shoot in RAW. I used that with my digital camera. But merely flowers, not the The Clash.

I HIGHLY recommend these Summits from #DaveCross with #MattK. They present their #Lightroom summit and Photoshop summits every year. Good stuff!

I REALLY wanted to sign up for it, so I decided time to look at their 2024 summit I bought. Ouch.

Really hurts … but gotta face reality. Film photographers are increasingly left outta discussions about tech. Yet I use Photoshop and Lightroom ALL THE TIME!

MY FAVE: the AH-MAZING Colin Smith. His tuts on LR and Pshop are amazing!!! THEY work. It’s just color correction, which I need more than anything, that are problematic.

BUT I have learned some great things about making selections, which is vital for me. I want to make vids showing the performers. NOT the gear and people and stuff.

Again, HIGHLY recommended: photoshopCAFE.com (Colin also talks about Lightroom.)

AGAIN NO AUTO SETTINGS OR AI prompts!!! Cos that always fucks up every photo! AUTO and AI DO NOT work in my film scans.

ALL DIY. Always. Which might explain my depression. I work on tech more than making art. Tech like emails newsletters, captchas (to keep spammers from signing up), all things related to my site are so depressing.

After days of hard stress, I shut down. I keep wondering why I bother … but my photos are amazing!!!