24. October 2019

Award ceremony of the photo competition "Analog wins"

Just a year ago, we started preparing for our photo competition "Analog Wins – the best of 100 years of analog photography". With the announcement of the winning photos and the award ceremony last weekend at the "fotoforum Impulse", the competition has finally come to a glorious end. We are pleased to introduce you to the final winners of places 1 to 20:
Place 1: » Get out of my mind « Peter Schulte Place 2: » silence « Anna Foersterling Place 3: » Selbstportrait mit Kameraden « Elmar Probst Place 4: » Heim-Tonstudio « Rene Albers Place 5: » Ein VW-Bus und drei Mechaniker « Martin Langer Place 6: » Im Kino Teil II, Berlin 1983 #114 « Matthias Leupold Place 7: » Leidenschaft Fotografie « Achim Duwentaester Place 8 – 10: » Wüste 2 « Basim Ghomorlou Place 8 – 10: » Take me to NYFW « Martynas Katauskas Place 8 – 10: » Es wird regnen « David Witte Place 11 – 15: » Ohne Titel « Kersten Place 11 – 15: » leave traces « Merten Riesner Place 11 – 15: » Seine Heiligkeit der Dalai Lama « Heinz-Peter Bader Place 11 – 15: » Kopfsprung 1981 « Klaus Wagner Place 11 – 15: » Lisboa 1938 « Jörg Oestreich Place 16 – 20: » Ostsee « Julian Denstorf Place 16 – 20: » Bodie USA « Goetz Lebkuechner Place 16 – 20: » Escalator « Peter Bylda Place 16 – 20: » 798 Art District Beijing « Adrian Dungert Place 16 – 20: » Bonjour Tristesse « Philipp Henriksen	(Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge)
Among all the other participants of the competition, we are giving away an annual subscription to the "fotoforum Magazin" and to the "PhotoKlassik International“ magazines. We will personally contact the winners in the coming days. Here you will finde the winning images: www.analog-foto-wettbewerb.de After the great success of our competition and the many great images sent in, we are planning further analog photo competitions We would like to encourage all those who were not among the winners to participate in our upcoming competitions. We will inform you as soon as we’re good to go.

23. October 2019

SilverFast at the FOTOEXPO.CZ in Prague On Saturday, the largest Czech photo exhibition FOTOEXPO.CZ took place in Prague. The Czech photographer Petr Šálek – an advanced user of our SilverFast software, who has also given several workshops on "Scanning with SilverFast" in the past – led the SilverFast booth. Together with his two assistants he convinced many photo enthusiastic fair visitors of the benefits of our SilverFast scanner software. The well-attended trade fair was an ideal opportunity to address the issue of "setting up a digital image archive" and to point out the need to digitize analog image material. The pictures on the right show some impressions from the FOTOEXPO.CZ 2019.

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20. September 2019

Workshop 1: Film Noir

PhotoKlassik Akademie: Film Noir Workshop from November 9th to 10th in Bad Nauheim, Germany. In this workshop, the tutors Marwan El-Mozayen and Andreas Waldeck intend to introduce the participants to the basics and typical elements of the Film Noir genre in theory and practice. Subsequently, the developed films will be scanned using SilverFast. (The workshop will be held in German language.)

Contents of the workshop

• Part 1: Theoretical aspects, i.a.
• Basics of the Film Noir genre
• Development of a shooting plan
• Location Scouting
• Lighting, exposure measurement
• Suitable film materials
• Part 2: Photo shooting
• Construction and calibration of lighting technology
• Shooting with professional models
• Part 3: Development & digitization
• Development of the exposed B/W films
• Enlargement to high-quality papers using the splitgrade method
• Digitization of the film with SilverFast

Further information and registration for the workshop can be found here on www.eventbrite.de (German). Using coupon code « SilverFast10 » you get 10% discount on the participation fee.

Workshop 2: Analog Today - Workshop for creative professionals

PhotoKlassik Akademie: Analog Today - Workshop for creative professionals from November 22nd to 24th in Bad Nauheim, Germany. In this 3-day workshop the participants will experience that analog photography and analog film are more alive than ever in the area of professional productions. The economic benefits compared to digital productions will be shown, there will be a photo shooting as well as a film shooting. Afterwards, the material taken will be developed and digitized. High-end drum scanners and SilverFast software will be used for the photographs. (The workshop will be held in German language.)

Contents of the workshop

• Day 1 – Introduction
• Theoretical basics of professional analog productions
• Examination of economic aspects
• Consideration of individual requirements and needs
• Day 2 – Fashion shooting and film shooting on location
• Fashion shooting incl. models
• Film shooting
• including costumes, props, make-up artist and hairdresser
• Day 3 – Development and evaluation
• Development of the film material
• Post-processing and optimization of the material
• Digitization with drum scanners and SilverFast

Further information and registration for the workshop can be found here on www.eventbrite.de (German). Using coupon code « SilverFast10 » you get 10% discount on the participation fee.


12. September 2019

Analog Wins – The Top 50 are determined!

Photo competition with prizes worth over 5,000 EUR

„Analog Wins – the best out of 100 years of analog photography“, numerous participants submitted their photographs to this slogan. The voting for the best images is now over and the top 50 images are determined.

These 50 best images will soon be reviewed by a jury of experts, who then select the 20 overall winning images. On October 19th, 2019, the winners of the competition will be presented at the fotoforum Impulse in Cloppenburg, Germany. In near future, all participants will also be informed by email about the outcome of the photo contest and any won prize.

Take a look at the 50 best images chosen by the participants:



24. April 2019

DON'T STOP THE DANCE – Our Book Winners

Congratulations to all winners of our "DON'T STOP THE DANCE" book raffle. The participation was possible through our SilverFast Newsletter.

Here are our winners:

• JC Candanedo, London
• Harald Radener, Düsseldorf
• Jim Maire, Salt Lake City
• Hardy Küsters, Wiehl
• Gerald Lopez, Auckland

The books have already been shipped and should arrive within the next few days.

Please have fun with your books. Best wishes from your LaserSoft Imaging Team

18. April 2019

LaserSoft Imaging presents "Analog gewinnt" (Analog wins)

Photo competition with prizes worth over 5,000 EUR

"Analog wins - the best out of 100 years of analog photography". This is the title of the first photo competition organized by the long-time partner companies of LaserSoft Imaging and Plustek. A special requirement is the following: All submitted photos must have been taken with an analog camera.

For decades, analog photography was the only way to capture experiences in pictures. To give these valuable witnesses of contemporary history a platform, the photo contest was launched. Amateurs, enthusiasts and professional photographers alike should feel addressed to participate. We hope to a obtain an impressive variety of motifs giving a comprehensive review over the past 100 years of analog photography.

We have many great prizes for you:

• 1x Plustek OpticFilm OF120 Pro from Plustek and SilverFast Archive Suite Software incl. IT8 Target from LaserSoft Imaging
• 1x Certo 400 with umbrella reflector, tripod for umbrella and lamp from Hensel Performing Light
• 1x SilverFast Ai Studio 8 Scanner Software for a scanner of your choice) incl. Advanced IT8 Target from LaserSoft Imaging
• 1x Stativ Velbon Ultra TR 663D from Technikdirekt.de
• 1x Shopping voucher worth 250,- EUR from Calumet
• and much more

Let's go – show us your best pictures. Discover and rate the pictures of the other participants. Further information about the photo competition, the conditions of participation and all pictures can be found at: www.analog-foto-wettbewerb.de (German)

29. March 2019

SilverFast Review in c't Digitale Fotografie magazine

The renowned German photo magazine c't Digitale Fotografie writes in its current issue on the topic of "Digitizing slides and negatives":

c't Digitale Fotografie: « SilverFast software is a real pleasure, making the heart of any photographer who cares about detailed adjustments beat faster. Some of these options would be well suited to professional photo editing applications such as Photoshop. »

We are thankful for this great praise! More on scanning with SilverFast in the current March / April issue of c't Digitale Fotografie.

19. March 2019

PhotoKlassik Academy – High-End Scan & Color Management One day workshop with Brian Aderer from Hudson Grafik Services, Sat April 13th in Bad Nauheim, Germany. Are you looking for perfect and consistent results in terms of resolution, tonal representation and shadow performance when scanning analog photographies? Have you ever thought of getting your hand on a high-end drum scanner? Here‘s your chance. A Heidelberg Primescan D7100 will be present for this workshop, but everything covered is applicable to all drum and flatbed scanners. This workshop will introduce techniques for bringing lab quality results to your workflow, regardless of your current equipment. Goals of the Workshop: You will learn how to apply universal color management workflows using SilverFast software. For experienced drum scanner operators this workshop is a opportunity to discuss and tweak their workflows with the experts.

Theory & Exercise - 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. o'clock CET Color Management theory for scan operators Scanner profiling with IT8 & HCT targets SilverFast & ScanOpen RGB & LAB RAW workflow for slide, color negative and black & white film Workflow & Best Practise - 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. o'clock CET Resolution and Aperture Descreening Mastering Color Negative and Black & White Tech-Talk with the experts Target Audience & Trainer: This Workshop is aimed at any photographer searching for a maximum quality and accuracy when digitizing analog photographies. You will get into contact with the power of high-end drum scanning. The workshop will be held by Brian Aderer, an U.S.-based photographer holding a BFA in Photography from The Art Institute Boston. Brian has achieved a full understanding of the drum scanning processes and nowadays he travels the world rescuing Heidelberg drum scanners as a full-time job. More info on the workshop and subscription here on www.eventbrite.de

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14. March 2019

No Shipping Costs and new supported Scanners

Order until March 21, 2019 and enjoy free shipping worldwide for all SilverFast products. (Scanners are shipped only within the European Union.)

In addition, SilverFast from version 8.8.0r15 now supports three new scanners: the DigitDia 7000 from Reflecta, the PowerSlide X from PIE and the SlideScan 7000 from Braun. As of now, SilverFast 8 is available for these three magazine scanners.



15. February 2019

DON'T STOP THE DANCE – Book and Exhibition

Hamburg, Erika Klütz School for Theater Dance, summer of 1960: Without much regard for conventional technology and traditional image perception and with the full joy of experimentation, Michael Fackelmann photographed the dancers in his special visual language. These black-and-white photographies will now be exhibited at the Leica Gallery of Nuremberg. Accompanying the exhibition, Fackelmann publishes his images in a photo book. Title of book and exhibition: DON'T STOP THE DANCE. Fackelmann photographed with a Leica M3 - he scanned all images with SilverFast scanner software. LEICA GALLERY - Obere Wörthstraße 8, 90403 Nuremberg VERNISSAGE – Friday March 15, 2019, 6:00 pm EXHIBITION TIME – March 16 to April 27, 2019 OPENING HOURS – Mon to Sat 10:00 am to 6:30 pm, admission free About these photographies: « Frequently it is often only after lengthy observation that spatial patterns, lines of movement, physical forms, subdued or frantic gestures piled up on top of one another stand out from the picture. The impact of the photograph is enhanced by the graphically effective reduction of the grey values, which give rise to distinct contrasts between light and dark. With his camera Fackelmann records the dancer’s behavior in space, observes how the flowing movement of the dance fills space with a physical presence and captures in the picture spatial zones of widely differing concentrations. Polarity finds its equivalent in the scale of light values, forms of unique beauty and austere charm taking shape. » Eckhard Kuhlbrodt, Fred Eckhard in the "camera" photo magazine, July 1964 Wolfram Reuter, Leica Gallery Nürnberg: « The aim of the Hamburg photographer Michael Fackelmann is to show the dynamics of dancing with his images as he sees them through the viewfinder of his camera. He tackles the theme of dancing with impulsive eagerness to experiment. » With our next newsletter we are giving away 5 Michael Fackelmann photo books. Newsletter Subscription

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22. January 2019

SilverFast supports 10th World Dendro Conference in Bhutan

Dendrochronology is a dating method in which the annual rings of trees are assigned to a specific, known growing time based on their different width. In dendrochronology the density of the latewood, those wood cells formed during the latter half of a treeʼs growing season, is a very powerful indicator of past temperature variations, traditionally requiring complex and expensive machines to measure. A less expensive and accessible option is to scan the latewood and to analyze the RGB blue-channel variations, which are very well correlated with density. In order to retrieve comparable color measurements from different scanners, and to monitor a scannerʼs blue-channel sensitivity over time, the dendrochronologists in Bhutan use SilverFast Ai Studio to calibrate scanners and to scan latewood samples. Paul J. Krusic, Dept. of Geography, University of Cambridge: « We are sincerely grateful for the LaserSoft Imaging gift and the contribution it made to the the success of our program. » More informationen on the Bhutan Fieldweek. More informationen on dendrochronology on Wikipedia.org.

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