Need help with scanned slides

[dpvollmer]

I have scanned several slides and a few of them have a horrible red cast. They don't seem to have any blue or green and I cannot color balance them. I really need your help recommending a method of adding back the blue and/or green. I attached one of the scanned photos at a reduced size.

Your help is greatly appreciated!

[John Rostron]

Welcome to the forums, @dpvollmer.

You say slides, but are these positive slides or colour negatives? Colour negatives frequently have an orange mask which can give the effect you show. Scanning software that will scan negatives usually incorporates a step to remove this mask. You do need to tell it that it is scanning a negative though.

If this is not the case, then do the original slides have a colour cast? How are you scanning them?

John

[dpvollmer]

These are positive slides. Of the 130 slides there are only about 6 that are giving me problems and they are all like the attached one in my original message. They were "scanned" using a Kodak Slide N Scan. My transparency scanner was going to take too long to get the job done at only four at a time.

David

[John Rostron]

2 hours ago, John Rostron said:

do the original slides have a colour cast?

If there are only six, then it may be worthwhile using your transparency scanner.

If the colour cast is present in your original slides, then I suspect that you have a mismatch between the white balance the slide film is optimised for (probably daylight)  and the illumination in the room (probably tungsten). I take it that you have tried to adjust the white balance. Have you tried an HSL Adjustment? This is not my strong area. Perhaps a member who knows about these things can advise.

John

[dpvollmer]

Yes, the original slides have this color cast. I have tried almost every adjustment Affinity has with far less than ideal results. I have even added a blue and green filter as there is very little green and almost no blue in the original/scan.

David

[John Rostron]

I meant to ask: how old are these slides? How have they been stored? Most of my slides are over 40 years old and have been stored in opaque plastic boxes, and these have maintained their colours. However some colour slide dyes will fade if exposed to light for too long, giving a colour cast. If these have gone, then there is little chance of getting them back.

John

[Andy05]

There are (paid and free) online services, which - depending on the source - can do a fairly well job with colourising b/w images. Make a b/w conversion of the image (also: adjust the reds for this) and upload it.

Quick'n'dirty example, made by https://colourise.sg/

[dpvollmer]

John,

Judging by the cars is some of the images they appear to be over 50 years old. The slides have been kept in their cardboard boxes and show no wear. They belong to a friend of my wife. Every slide needed color balancing and many other tweaks, but for their age most look OK.

Thanks!

[dpvollmer]

Andy05,

Good suggestion. I think I will convert to BW and let my wife's friend go to the link you provided. 

Thank you!