History, Conservation, and Repair - - Scanning Old B/W Photo - Odd 'spots' - Newbie

raywong · #1 06-08-2005, 11:15 PM

Hi,
I'm new here & from what I've read so in this forum, there's a lot of experience here so I'm wondering if someone could help me here. I'm sure this has been discussed before, if so, please do point me in the right direction.

Basically, I'm trying to scan an old b&w family portrait & in the process of scanning i find that there's lots of 'spots' especially in the dark areas. I'm using the HP scanjet 8250 with the following settings :

Colour : Millions of colours
Res : 600dpi
Added descreen

A sample of the 'problem' is attached. Anyone has a suggestion as to what I should set for the scan or should this be cleaned up in PS?

Thanking you in advance for any advise!

Paris · #2 06-09-2005, 04:09 AM

Hi Raywong,

Welcome to RetouchPro.

A couple of links that may answer some questions.

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/non-retouchpro-resources/7180-scanning-basics-101-a.html

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...hlight=scanner

Personally I do all repairs in Photoshop.

Paris

Caitlin · #3 06-09-2005, 04:13 PM

Those white marks do look a bit strange.

A couple of questions for you: Why are you using descreen? What size is the original? Is the print on textured paper? Is there any evidence of these white marks on the original?

raywong · #4 06-09-2005, 11:25 PM

Caitlin,
Thanks for your response!

Ok as for your questions, the only reason why I'm using descreen is simply because the results were better. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what this function is.. ;-)

Anyway, it's looks like it's on textured paper, sort of glossy. As for the white marks, no, they do not seem obvious on the photo. I guessing that it's something to do with the texture & that in the process of scanning, the ridges causes some sort of 'reflection'?

Btw, the size is 6x4

raywong

nebgranny · #5 06-10-2005, 09:02 PM

Silly Question Here...Could it have been a tweed suit and the white spots belong there? I remember a family member had a suit made of material that looked like this. Neb

Caitlin · #6 06-10-2005, 09:08 PM

ray - I'd suggest trying to scan it again - without any auto settings, and without descreen. Post the result here - I'll be interested to see if this helps. If the paper is textured another thing to try is to scan the photo a couple of times at different rotations - as the reflection can be less, or two scans from different rotations can cancel each other out if overlayed. I don't think these spots look like paper texture though...

soleah · #7 06-11-2005, 08:02 AM

Hi Ray,
I have a similar problem and I came across a "buried" thread from long ago.

Quote:

by Doug Nelson
The basic fault of most scanners, particularly less expensive scanners, is that they introduce noise into the darker areas. This manifests as random lighter dots. They aren't the same from scan to scan, so if we switch the new layer's mode from 'difference' to 'darken', the darkest value of each scan will be combined, eliminating any noise spots that aren't accidentally aligned.

Here's the link to this thread- Multiple Scans

raywong · #8 06-12-2005, 06:43 PM

Thanks all for your replay. Unfortunately, I do have the photo with me right now to retry the scan, but will do so tomorrow. Thanks so much for all the advise thus far...

raywong · #9 06-20-2005, 02:04 AM

Hi all,
Sincere apologies for the delay in responding as I was caught up with work the whole of last week.

In any case, as suggested by Caitlin, here's a rescan without the descreen.

Scan001 is without descreen, scan002 is with descreen (just for comparison) & scan003 is without descreen & sharpening is set to NONE.

In response to nebgranny, no this is not a tweed suit & actually just a 'standard' suit/blazer type of material. It doesn't look like it's the 'shiny' type of material.

Appreciate any feedback from anyone, thanks in advance.

Caitlin · #10 06-20-2005, 03:42 AM

This is a bit of a mystery. What is the surface of the photo like? Is it shiny. matt, rough, smooth?

raywong · #11 06-20-2005, 03:48 AM

It's actually a little 'shiny' & also 'bumpy'. I believe it's typical of the old portrait type of photo surface. FYI, this was taken in 72.

Kraellin · #12 06-24-2005, 01:10 PM

ok, another question for you... have you ever cleaned your scanner surfaces, especially with water? these look like water residue to me. i'd suggest wiping the scanner down wth a dry, very soft, dust-free, cloth, tissue or newspaper (yup, newspaper) and scan again.

you might also try a VERY soft tissue or toilet paper very light wipe of the picture itself. NOTHING WET! if the original picture is in very bad physical shape, do NOT wipe it at all!

if the above produces no observable results, try running the image through polaroid's dust and scratch software.

Craig