Using Lightroom 4 & Photoshop CS6 - HDR 48 bit or 48 bit?

[Waldvierteler]

I have a large project to scan hundreds of older reflective photos using SilverFast Ai Studio 8 that I plan to process/refine/repair/restore in Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS6 as needed. I understand the concept of HDR scanning and the desire to gather as much data as possible to work with in post-scan, particularly where there may need to be some restoration work needed.

With this as my objective and workflow, does it make sense to scan them all in straight 48 bit color or should I scan them all in 48 bit HDR? I started some test scans doing it both ways, but the time and hassle was too much. So if I am careful not to clip any data scanning in 48 bit and do not plan to do a lot of pre-scan refinements, am I really gathering that much more date scanning in HDR?

Your suggestions and insights would be very much appreciated.

[LSI_Ketelhohn]

Dear customer,

I suggest scanning into the normal 48Bit images for processing in Photoshop.
These are already correctly rendered and the image auto adjustment and/or Pipette tools allow you to produce correctly prepared images.
It is important to set the highlights and shadows so the rendering is done correctly.

The 64/48 bit HDR(i) images are menat to be processed in SilverFast HDR (Studio).
They are less suited for direct processing in Photoshop.
In case you do so you need to take care that the colorspace is not processed befor you do the highlights and shadows adjustments or the gamma correction.

kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.

[HistoryScan]

I've just started working with SilverFast 8. I also plan on scanning in old images to use in Photoshop CS6. But I'm using a different workflow.
I'm scanning everything at maximum available scanner resolution to HDR (or HDRi for transparencies). The only scan processing I use is Multiple Exposure (for transparencies). This in effect creates a digital scan master.
I then process this master in SilverFast HDR (e.g. apply iSRD or color correction) and save to TIFF for processing in Photoshop.
Disadvantage is an extra step.
Advantage is that I only have to scan once even if I want to change post scan processing.
I find this useful for trying out different processing without having to rescan for each processing version.

[Waldvierteler]

Thank you Arne!