Transparencies from scans?

skippy1729 · July 27th, 2011, 06:41 AM

Many of you will remember, or seen pictures of, the Playmate Bars in the old Playboy Clubs around the world. They were decorated with backlit transparencies of the playmate centerfolds. As I remember they were somewhat larger than the print versions. Over the years, I have never seen one of these for sale. I had the idea that I could possibly make my own using a high resolution scan.

Question 1: Is there a relationship between the resolution of the scan and the maximum practical size of a print that can be made of it without blurring and loss of detail? So if I used Old Bull scans could I get a decent full size transparency? Example: OB001__Ellen_Michaels_03-1972_LPCF.jpg 839.5KB

Question 2: What type of equipment would I need to do it myself?

Question 3: I am quessing that the answer to Question 2 is going to be cost prohibitive for the three or four transparencies that I want to make. Any suggestions to a commercial photo processing operation that I could contact?

Thanks, Skippy

PS Anybody know of centerfold scans with higher resolution than the Old Bull series that are not PEI copyright?

**monogroover** · July 27th, 2011, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skippy1729

Many of you will remember, or seen pictures of, the Playmate Bars in the old Playboy Clubs around the world. They were decorated with backlit transparencies of the playmate centerfolds. As I remember they were somewhat larger than the print versions. Over the years, I have never seen one of these for sale. I had the idea that I could possibly make my own using a high resolution scan.

Nice idea.

Quote:

Question 1: Is there a relationship between the resolution of the scan and the maximum practical size of a print that can be made of it without blurring and loss of detail? So if I used Old Bull scans could I get a decent full size transparency? Example: OB001__Ellen_Michaels_03-1972_LPCF.jpg 839.5KB

Yes, the maximum size of a print is partly a function of the resolution.

As I understand it the transparency itself is going to be full-size, and back lit - you're not looking to create (say) 35mm slides to be projected onto a surface.

This being the case you will definitely want a very high resolution scan of a very good quality source. If you were projecting an image from a slide this would be a bit more forgiving (the projected image would be a fair bit less revealing). You can get a rough impression of the pixellation and quality by viewing a portion of your image on an image viewer, and zooming in until it appears full size on your monitor.

If I'm correct in my assumption above, I have no idea on the rest of your questions - sorry.

**deepsepia** · July 29th, 2011, 11:50 PM

Couple of things: your problem is in some ways very easy, and in some ways quite hard.

Start with the hard part: Scanning from print is going to produce poor quality. Backlit transparencies are beautiful, but they show defects in the source material very clearly. They also have a much greater contrast range than does the printed page -- that's why Kodachrome slides look so great when projected.

So ideally, you want the highest dynamic range source material you can find. A Kodachrome slide would do, or an excellent digital image. If you scan from print, you'd want someone with a lot of experience to enhance the contrast, just taking the raw unretouched scan is going to look a little shoddy . . . in particular, if its coming from print, you're going to want to filter it, the process of removing a halftone pattern is called "descreening"

As for output, you've got lots of great choices. There's the cheap DIY solution: transparency film through a high quality color printer.
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...sparency_Film/

You can do this at a Kinko's or similar service bureau. For the best quality, though, there's the material you're familiar with from things like bus shelters: Duratrans. Its a spectacular and very durable material

There are many service bureaus that do this sort of thing, here's one:

http://www.backlitprint.com

~~bigbobnobody~~ · August 1st, 2011, 03:17 AM

If what I think you're talking about, is what's in my mind, you're not talking
about a slide that projects are you? Years ago I made a few pictures to be
back lit that came out great. Of course the size was limited to the capacity
of my printer, but I have to say that they came out just fantastic and looked
great sandwiched between two pieces of glass in a glass frame. Seemingly
floating in mid air almost hologram like. Whether that's anything similar
to what you're talking about or not, Im glad you made this post, because
it's given me the creative urge to try another one! lol

sgs3 · August 6th, 2011, 11:21 PM

Skippy,

there are several oldschool methods to do this that don't make sense anymore. Probably the best and easiest, is if you have a good Epson (or Canon equivalent) printer, you can use Epson CrystalClear Film to print your scans (I recommend 300 dpi or higher) from your computer to the film. Using the LPCF or Old Bull, you could definitely get a nice size transparency.

Unless you know somebody at the lab, do not take copyright images to the lab and ask them to make copies onto Duratrans or other media.

July 27th, 2011, 06:41 AM	#1
skippy1729 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 285 Thanks: 1,313 Thanked 2,907 Times in 261 Posts	Transparencies from scans? Many of you will remember, or seen pictures of, the Playmate Bars in the old Playboy Clubs around the world. They were decorated with backlit transparencies of the playmate centerfolds. As I remember they were somewhat larger than the print versions. Over the years, I have never seen one of these for sale. I had the idea that I could possibly make my own using a high resolution scan. Question 1: Is there a relationship between the resolution of the scan and the maximum practical size of a print that can be made of it without blurring and loss of detail? So if I used Old Bull scans could I get a decent full size transparency? Example: OB001__Ellen_Michaels_03-1972_LPCF.jpg 839.5KB Question 2: What type of equipment would I need to do it myself? Question 3: I am quessing that the answer to Question 2 is going to be cost prohibitive for the three or four transparencies that I want to make. Any suggestions to a commercial photo processing operation that I could contact? Thanks, Skippy PS Anybody know of centerfold scans with higher resolution than the Old Bull series that are not PEI copyright?

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July 29th, 2011, 11:50 PM	#3
deepsepia Moderator Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Upper left corner Posts: 7,205 Thanks: 47,953 Thanked 83,436 Times in 7,199 Posts	Couple of things: your problem is in some ways very easy, and in some ways quite hard. Start with the hard part: Scanning from print is going to produce poor quality. Backlit transparencies are beautiful, but they show defects in the source material very clearly. They also have a much greater contrast range than does the printed page -- that's why Kodachrome slides look so great when projected. So ideally, you want the highest dynamic range source material you can find. A Kodachrome slide would do, or an excellent digital image. If you scan from print, you'd want someone with a lot of experience to enhance the contrast, just taking the raw unretouched scan is going to look a little shoddy . . . in particular, if its coming from print, you're going to want to filter it, the process of removing a halftone pattern is called "descreening" As for output, you've got lots of great choices. There's the cheap DIY solution: transparency film through a high quality color printer. http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...sparency_Film/ You can do this at a Kinko's or similar service bureau. For the best quality, though, there's the material you're familiar with from things like bus shelters: Duratrans. Its a spectacular and very durable material There are many service bureaus that do this sort of thing, here's one: http://www.backlitprint.com

August 1st, 2011, 03:17 AM	#4
~~bigbobnobody~~ Banned! Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: not here Posts: 3,018 Thanks: 4,467 Thanked 94,236 Times in 3,111 Posts	If what I think you're talking about, is what's in my mind, you're not talking about a slide that projects are you? Years ago I made a few pictures to be back lit that came out great. Of course the size was limited to the capacity of my printer, but I have to say that they came out just fantastic and looked great sandwiched between two pieces of glass in a glass frame. Seemingly floating in mid air almost hologram like. Whether that's anything similar to what you're talking about or not, Im glad you made this post, because it's given me the creative urge to try another one! lol

August 6th, 2011, 11:21 PM	#5
sgs3 Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 1 Thanks: 6 Thanked 2 Times in 1 Post	Skippy, there are several oldschool methods to do this that don't make sense anymore. Probably the best and easiest, is if you have a good Epson (or Canon equivalent) printer, you can use Epson CrystalClear Film to print your scans (I recommend 300 dpi or higher) from your computer to the film. Using the LPCF or Old Bull, you could definitely get a nice size transparency. Unless you know somebody at the lab, do not take copyright images to the lab and ask them to make copies onto Duratrans or other media.