Film photography is experiencing a renaissance, especially with younger creatives drawn to its aesthetic charm and hands-on process. However, once you’ve shot your roll of film and scanned your negatives, knowing how to get vibrant, true-to-life results is tricky. But not anymore, because this guide will show you how to convert colour negatives in Photoshop and get professional results in four easy steps.
🎯 Why Converting Colour Negatives Is Tricky
Converting colour negatives isn’t as simple as inverting the image and tweaking levels. That’s because colour film introduces several technical challenges that most photo editors don’t automatically handle well. The table below highlights the three main issues you’re likely to face—and why they happen:
| 🧪 Problem | 🔍 Why It Happens |
|---|---|
| Orange Tint | The orange film base adds a tint to balance colours in analogue printing. |
| Colour Casts | Simple auto tools in Photoshop often don’t handle colour film scans well. |
| Poor Contrast | Negatives have inverted tonal curves, making the dynamic range hard to judge. |
With these challenges in mind, let’s walk through a reliable method for removing the orange tint and recovering natural, true-to-life colours from your film scans using Photoshop’s built-in tools.
🎞️ Four-Step Guide to Convert Colour Negatives in Photoshop
Follow these four simple steps in Photoshop to convert your colour negatives into vibrant, true-to-life digital images:
- Adjust the Colour Balance – Removes the orange film tint
- Apply Auto Tone – Fixes overall contrast
- Lift the Mid-tones – Enhances image brightness
- Invert the Image – Reveals true-to-life colours
✨ Optional: Add a Tone Curve – Mimics the warm, contrast-rich Fuji Frontier look.
To prove the method works, I’ll use a scan of the X-Rite ColorChecker photographed on Fuji Superia 200 35mm film—so you can see exactly how each step transforms the image.
Moreover, this guide will help you achieve pro-level results whether you use a DSLR + lightbox setup or a dedicated film scanner like the Plustek OpticFilm 8200i.
🥇 Step 1: Adjust the Colour Balance to Remove the Orange Film Tint
Firstly, open your image in Photoshop. The negative will appear with a noticeable orange tint (see Figure 1).
Then, to remove the orange film tint, go to Menu: Image > Adjustments > Colour Balance and make the following adjustments:
| Tonal Range | Cyan/Red | Magenta/Green | Yellow/Blue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shadows | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midtones | -30 | +15 | +30 |
| Highlights | -90 | +45 | +90 |
📝 These settings work well with Fuji Superia 200, but adjust them based on your film stock.
Afterwards, the RGB values for the grey patches will look more balanced, giving your scan a more neutral tone (see Figure 2).
✨ Step 2: Apply Auto Tone to Fix Overall Contrast
Next, go to Menu: Image > Auto Tone and apply the “Auto Tone” command to fix your image’s overall contrast (see Figure 3).
💡 This step also boosts clarity and ensures colours look vibrant in the positive image.
🧮 Step 3: Lift the Mid-tones to Enhance Brightness
Furthermore, go to Menu: Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels and lift the mid-tone input (gamma) value from 1.00 to 2.20. This step will enhance the luminance in your image, making it look brighter (see Figure 4).
📌 Omit this step if you captured your image with a DSLR, which already saves images with a non-linear (i.e., gamma-corrected) tone curve.
🎨 This step brightens the mid-tones without blowing out highlights or crushing shadows—ideal for flat linear scans.
🔄 Step 4: Invert the Image to Reveal true-to-life Colours
Finally, go to Menu: Image > Adjustments > Invert to transform your negative into a positive image, making the colours look natural or true-to-life (see Figure 5).
🎉 That’s it! Those are the four easy steps to turn your negative into a beautiful positive image.
🎞️ Optional: Add a Tone Curve to Mimic the Fuji Frontier Look
After completing these four steps, you may also want to mimic the warm, contrast-rich look typical of Fuji Frontier scans. If so, go to Menu: Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves and use the settings below to shape your tone curve:
| Channel | Point | Input | Output | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RGB (Master) | Shadows | 64 | 64 | Preserves shadow detail with subtle softening |
| Midtones | 128 | 154 | Lightens midtones for a softer, lifted look | |
| Highlights | 192 | 232 | Brightens highlights and adds a filmic glow | |
| Red | Shadows | 64 | 62 | Adds subtle warmth to darker regions |
| Highlights | 192 | 200 | Tames red highlights for better colour balance | |
| Green | Midtones | 128 | 130 | Gently boosts green in midtones to maintain tonal neutrality |
| Blue | Shadows | 64 | 58 | Softens blue tones in shadows, enhancing warmth |
| Highlights | 192 | 188 | Reduces blue in highlights to mimic Frontier scanner warmth |
These adjustments, for example, help to subtly lift shadows, gently roll off highlights and introduce a touch of warmth (see Figure 6).
🎨 Pro Tip: You can also fine-tune this look by adjusting each channel individually in the Curves panel. Consequently, this adjustment gives your film scan a lab-processed aesthetic.
✅ Key Points: Four Steps to Convert Colour Negatives in Photoshop
- Remove the orange film tint using Colour Balance adjustments.
- Improve overall contrast automatically by applying the Auto Tone command.
- Enhance image brightness by lifting the mid-tones.
- Reveal true-to-life colours by inverting the negative into a positive image.
🧪 Lab vs. DIY: Side-by-Side Results
Here’s how this Photoshop method (right) compares with a Fuji Frontier SP-3000 lab scan (left):
📷 With some practice, your DIY conversions can rival or surpass lab results.
🔗 Want More?
If you found this tutorial on “How to Convert Colour Negatives in Photoshop the Easy Way” helpful, why not:
- 💬 Share it with your photography community
- 📸 Check out my film photography work
Finally, thanks for reading — and happy scanning!
🎞️📷🖼️