Kiva

[Tom Barry]

Kodachrome from 1990, scanned and processed today. I can’t seem to get the sky color right and would appreciate any help. I remember using a polarizing filter on this shot. All old film, even K64, fades, however archíval the storage, I’m finding. I did manage a satisfactory mono conversion.
raw0001j copy2 by tombarry975, on Flickr
raw0001j copybw by tombarry975, on Flickr

[DanK]

I think the mono conversion worked well. I think fixing up the color version would be difficult and would require both working on specif colors and doing some of it locally. I fiddled with it briefly, but I think it may be beyond my skill set.

[Tom Barry]

Dan, I think you're right. But I went back to the original file and made one more attempt. Still not what a K64 slide should look like:
raw0001 copyFF by tombarry975, on Flickr

[Manfred M]

Your second attempt is definitely an improvement on the first one.

Kodachrome delivered punchy colours and high contrast. That is why I really enjoyed shooting with it. That being said, the downside was that the dynamic range was down around 4 stops, sit performed poorly in the lighting conditions you were shooting in.

A polarizing filter would have pushed that blue / cyan sky really hard; desaturating just the blue channel would be worth considering. Are the structures and the stone in the foreground that red?

[Wavelength]

Black and white is very nice; second version is better for color

[Tom Barry]

Your second attempt is definitely an improvement on the first one.

Kodachrome delivered punchy colours and high contrast. That is why I really enjoyed shooting with it. That being said, the downside was that the dynamic range was down around 4 stops, sit performed poorly in the lighting conditions you were shooting in.

A polarizing filter would have pushed that blue / cyan sky really hard; desaturating just the blue channel would be worth considering. Are the structures and the stone in the foreground that red?

In my memory, the structures had a little pinkish tone, possibly. I’m gonna give it a rest for a day or so and work on the blue channel. Thanks for the help.

[shreds]

Tom,

Definitely the blue channel will be significant. The stone structures probably less of an issue about them being pink although this may come down a shade or so, too, as K64 often shows up on the pink side. Try to maintain the greens in the medium background which may be key to getting the sky correct?

Typical K64 film issues much as I liked it back in the day.

[Tom Barry]

I surrender. The limited dynamic range of Kodachrome wore me out, so I’ll stick with the mono version.

[xpatUSA]

I surrender. The limited dynamic range of Kodachrome wore me out, so I’ll stick with the mono version.

Indeed, Tom, that sky certainly seems a little odd. Having said that, I only ever shot with color negative film usually 200 ASA -so I have no idea how Kodachrome is 'sposed to look.

In the sky (as first posted) over to the right, the red channel bottoms out at X,Y = 682,54 (R0, G69, B147) -and stays bottomed out all the way down to the horizon at X,Y = 862,195 (R0, G205, B229). This does not bode well for the sky color which is mostly bi-chromatic! Had some red been retained, the tint might have been lighter and more realistic.

For the elevation angle of sky covered, the gradient is too high even though it appears to be evening.

A quick try -I selected the sky, cranked down the saturation, upped the lightness a bit, played with the hue to reduce the green, and upped the contrast a little. Turned out quite tolerable ...

[mugge]

I surrender. The limited dynamic range of Kodachrome wore me out, so I’ll stick with the mono version.

A wise move. The colours were too "way out" I think
Cheers Ole

[xpatUSA]

Originally Posted by Tom Barry I surrender. The limited dynamic range of Kodachrome wore me out, so I’ll stick with the mono version.

Indeed, Tom, that sky certainly seems a little odd.

In the sky (as first posted) over to the right, the red channel bottoms out at X,Y = 682,54 (R0, G69, B147) -and stays bottomed out all the way down to the horizon at X,Y = 862,195 (R0, G205, B229). This does not bode well for the sky color which is mostly bi-chromatic! Had some red been retained, the tint might have been lighter and more realistic.

A quick try -I selected the sky, cranked down the chroma, upped the lightness a bit, played with the hue. Turned out quite tolerable ...

Edited in the GIMP, LCH adjustments in L*a*b* space, no other edits. Sky and ground edited separately.

[Tom Barry]

Thanks for your effort, Ted. The sky especially improved. It
hadn’t occurred to me to process the sky separately. I just uncovered another trove of stored slides from the 70s and 80s. Since I don’t have the time to do them all justice or the resources to have them scanned professionally, I will try to pick those that the family will find interesting.