Restore image with negative colors



Restore image with negative colors


Question

I have an image that was taken using a negative color filter long ago, but now I need the normal picture, is there a way to get a good quality of that picture with the actual colors? The current software I am using is GIMP.

2014/07/01
1
5
7/1/2014 12:47:00 PM

Accepted Answer

GIMP has an invert command you can apply to RGB and Grayscale images:

enter image description here to enter image description here

You can acces it through Colors → Invert.

2014/07/02
3
7/2/2014 1:25:00 AM

We may be talking about a scanned color negative film stock widely used way before the invention of digital cameras.

These images had a yellow and a red mask for color absorption. Hence negatives had an orange rather than a white tint:

enter image description here

Image source: Wikipedia cc

To obtain a positve color image from these sources we have to

  1. Remove the orange mask

    • Colors > Pick white point: choose an area outside the image

    enter image description here

  2. Invert the colors

    • Colors > Invert

    enter image description here

  3. Adjust colors (many negatives will have a heavy blue tint):

    • Colors > Pick gray point: choose a gray area from the image

    enter image description here

Note: removing the orange mask will unfortunately lead to a reduced pixel information as compared to color scans.

Takkat
2014/07/01