Matching tones in a single image/Repair

[fantacmet]

Ok my scanner has a slight issue, it scans beautifully except for one small problem. It leaves a strip right down the middle of an image. Full detail and all but the tones are lighter. Is there a way to get photoshop to, to auto correct this?

I'm not ready to invest this kind of money in a new scanner, as this thing cost me a pretty penny.

I have a series of images that need to be scanned, but this stripe makes them useless.

[mistermonday]

It depends. Can you attach a sample so we can assess the symptom? It could be direct on part of the sensor array or it could be that part of the sensor array has become defective. The image correction will depend on whether the shift is just lightness or if it is color or both.
Regards, Murray

[fantacmet]

I will try and attach a color scan later today, but for now here is a B&W scan of my step grandmother when she was younger. I gotta get around to fixing the crease one of these days. Lots of pics my grandfather left behind like that, I need to get scanned and fixed. I think I can fix the issue with the scanner, but I'm loath to take it apart. It's going to be a PITA.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...family/001.jpg

You can see the stripe down the left side of the image. Also it seems that to the right of the stripe, things gradually get darker, when I tried to scan a blank page.

The issue started happening like this. The whole neighborhood has a problem with Sugar Ants. Nasty little buggers, they bite, and they are everywhere. I brought my scanner in, set it up, and then a week or so later, I opened the scanner cover, and ants where everywhere under the glass, and one or two were in there when I went to scan an image, and one of them got caught and got itself vaporized on the scanning light, and all that was left of him were ashes/dust. I THINK I just need to open it up and clean it. It's a brother DCP-110C, and it scans well, and prints like a dream. It prints nice high resolution where the tiniest of words are legible.

[mozman]

Here's a low tech solution (maybe) but looking at the picture, it looks like the left side is the problem. As a short term solution, I would scan the picture twice, right side up and upside down. Then using your Photoshop I would rotate and one of the pictures and merge the two pictures together, masking out the imperfections.

Hopefully it will work.

Mozman

[TommyO]

I'm thinking cleaning is the proper 1st step. If that fails, you know you need a new one.

I like mozman's idea... I would do that except just slide the image over a few millimeters rather than rotate.

[fantacmet]

That one already crossed my mind, and I have tried it. It works fine for most of the newer stuff I scan, but for the old photo's which have uneven and questionable edges it poses a problem in alignment. My choices really are to either fix it myself if possible, repair the images in PS, or not scan anymore. Getting a new one isn't an option. Economic issues have left me out of work.