OT: Let's talk scanning software

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

I'm at my wits' end here, and could really use some advice.

....I scan with the lid up, and in a room with ambient lighting. Not too light to where it should negatively affect the color balance, and not dark enough where I'll.......bust a toe on the corner of my bed.

Bill

Bill,

Impressive. You have really gone hard core here...scanning from your bed.

Sorry couldn't resist.


Z Wheat

[the 'stache]

Well, my computer is in my bedroom. My bed has a steel construction frame. I've caught & broken my little toe on each foot at least once each on the bedpost. I'm such a klutz!

[Griffins]

I scan from photoshop, found that to be the most efficient. Thru the end of the year adobe has a deal that you can sign up and pay 9.95 a month for the latest version of Photoshop and Lightroom and 20gb of cloud storage.

This is the process I use, it's simple, automated and consistent. Since it's so simple my son was able to do most of my scanning from about the age of 8. Takes a few minutes of one time setup and then anyone can do it, with a bit of oversight. Apologize if this is a bit techno geeky, but if you have photoshop it will make sense.

Lay 4 cards on the scanner bed, not touching. Set the live area to the full scan bed so you don't have to preview (takes too much time). Scan the 4 cards, pull them off, scan 4 more. After about 16 4-up scans close the scan module and save everything into a folder.
With photoshop you can create actions, which are scripts of tasks. It's super easy. I created an action that adjusts the brightness and contrast for each scan- the flip in the holder is generally consistent, so if you set that at the same amount of brightness (243 in photoshop, 255 being pure white but that is too pumped up) then each scan will be consistently the same. Add a touch of sharpening (in filter-sharpen-unsharp mask and a setting of about 110-1-4) and then include the command "crop and straighten photos". Save it to a folder and you're action is complete.
Running this action will adjust the contrast consistently, make the scan crisp and clear, and then crop each 4-up scan into individual images, cropped right to the edge of the holder. All automatically. Scan 40-50 cards, run the action, walk away for a few minutes, and come back with clean scans all ready to go.
Depending on the speed of your computer you can scan and prepare the files for about 160 slabs per hour.

[the 'stache]

Anthony, thanks for the heads up about the Photoshop special. That's a heck of a deal, and it makes smart business sense. Unfortunately, I just have CS 2, so I can't take advantage of it. I'm likely going to buy the latest version sometime this year, maybe when I build my new computer.

[Sean1125]

Pm sent.

[the 'stache]

Thank you, Sean. I will keep that scanner in mind should mine blow up. But I think I figured out what was going wrong with my Canoscan. When all else fails, reset the software settings to default (thereby removing stupidity, or user error, from the picture). My pictures are looking beautiful again, so I'm happy. A few scans from today:



My scanner is working again, the Badgers racked up 700 yards in a 51-3 win over Indiana, now all I need is a Packer win over the G-Men to make my weekend complete!

[ctownboy]

Every time I read the headline of this post I see "scamming" software instead of scanning software.

David