noise to signal

Photoshop cross-processing

It constantly amazes me that while much of the content on the web that providers want people to pay for is mediocre at best, some wonderful things are completely free.

Case in point: Shan Canfield's wonderful cross-processing actions for Photoshop, which I just discovered yesterday.

Cross-processing, briefly, is a photographic technique where (usually) slide film (E6) is processed in the set of chemicals usually used to process print film (C41). (Less common is cross-processing in the other direction -- print film processed in slide film chemicals) The result is images with oddly skewed colors and increased contrast and saturation.

This technique was a bit overused in the late 1990's, but it can be quite effective when used in the right situation. I like using it (gently) for my photos of Circus Contraption -- the slightly odd look to the colors works well with their style. It can also be used for motion picture film; for example, in the movie Three Kings, most of the desert scenes are cross-processed.

The problem we're running into now, however, is that this process depends on shooting with film. What happens if you're one of the photographers who have made the jump to digital?

That's where Ms. Canfield (also known as Photoshop Mama, according to her site) comes in. She's produced a set of very nice Photoshop "actions", or macros, that do a very credible job of mimicking real cross-processing in a digital tool.

Unfortunately Ms. Canfield's site uses frames, so I can't point you directly to the cross-processing section, but if you go to her site (opens in a new window), click on "shanzcan tutorials", and scroll down to number 23, you'll find them.

"That's all very well and good, Dave, but can you show me some samples?" I'm glad you asked. Here are some samples using the old Photodisc color calibration test image. First, the unmanipulated image:

There are three versions of the action. The first one focuses more on the hue and saturation changes cross-processing creates. The second focuses more on the contrast changes. Here they are:

    

The third action combines the two:

The really elegant thing about how Ms. Canfield has set up these actions is that the the actions generate cross-process layers that sit above the original, unmanipulated image, and affect it. In the case of the combined action, it creates two layers, one for each of the other actions it includes.

This suggests a few ideas. First, I've found that it's most efficient to just run the third action. Like real cross-processing, the effect on an image is sometimes hard to predict. Having both versions there allows you to turn one or the other off and choose which one you like better -- or change the opacity of one or the other, if you want some of the contrast effect, but not quite as much as her action gives you, for example.

The second idea this suggests is that it's possible to duplicate one or another of the layers if you want more of that layer's effect.

The third idea, which follows on the second, is that it's possible to add other layers to manipulate the effect.

On the left, below, I have a version of the image where I have two layers of effect #1, and none of effect #2, for a stronger hue shift.

On the right I have a version with only one layer of effect #1, plus a color balance adjustment layer (0/50/0 in the shadows and 0/0/25 in the highlights) that mimics the way cross-processing can sometimes make the image go green in the shadows, and warm in the highlights.

    

One caveat is that because these require layers, they won't work on 16-bit images just yet. But Photoshop CS is right around the corner, which finally allows most features to work in 16 bits. Huzzah!

The possibilities are vast. I'm sure this is giving all of you Photoshop types some great ideas. Enjoy! And mad props to Ms. Canfield, as well.