100 Days of Black and White Photos: Day 37

Remember yesterday how I said one of the rolls of film was blank? Actually it wasn't. When I checked the roll of film next to a lamp, I saw that it had images on it. This mean the photos were overexposed or I pushed the film while developing it, or both.


So I tested out scanning film with my scanner, and apparently my scanner is so old it doesn't have a film feature. Even the software doesn't have an option to tell it I'm scanning film. When scanning film, the back of the cover can not be on top of the film. The scanner has to scan through the film because of transparency. When I tried scanning with the lid open, the film turns to black and white. I tried to put my light diffuser over it with the flashlight from my phone shinning through it, thats gave it a lot more light and the scans were clearer, but they were still in black and white.

If I can't find a work around, I'm going to have to get rid of the device. it is a All-in1 printer/copier/scanner. I already use my mobile device to scan documents, I don't have any need to print paper. I was keeping this device around because it was one of the last christmas gifts I got from my aunt before she died and I thought I could use the scanner feature for high res scans.  I guess I'm going to have to use my camera from now on. I don't need to go out and spend money on a new scanner.

Another method I am testing out is using my phone as a lightbox and then using a camera to take photos of the film. Below is a test shoot I took a few hours ago.

The photo on the left is the photo with no processing and just inverted to display in color. The photo on the right was a quick pass at editing the photo. This isn't a keeper, because I took the photo with my iPad as a jpeg (would be better as a TIFF) and the film was still in the archive plastic. I just wanted to check to see how good this option will work out.

I'm surprised this film came out this good because:

1) I shot this photo in 2011 at a playground in New Jersey.
2) I kept the film in the fridge ever since then, except for when I moved twice  (including moving across the country).
3) This was my first time developing film.
4) I cross-processed this film.
5) I shot this with a Diana Mini toy camera.

I mean, i did make some mistakes, but I think I did okay for a first time. Tomorrow I am going to research and test out more ways I can scan film. The photo at the top was another one taken last year in the Japanese garden.