How to optimise JPG files from scanned book?

[samz]

Hello,

SOURCE: 203 gray scale JPG files from a scanned book. So, I prefer use a script.
WISHES:
- improving the quality of reading (to print image).
- keep the gray area in the illustrations.
- reduce/erase the faults.
- reduce/erase light characters of the reverse page.

NO MATTER IF:
- the optimised file weight is a bit heavier.
- the optimised file format is changed/converted.
- we use another software (allowing batch processing).

FINAL GOAL: print a A5 booklet then archive the images.

MY TEST USING PHOTOSHOP CS3: http://samz.net78.net/scan/
- 2 samples images: L07_1.JPG, L07_2.JPG
- 2 optimised images: L07_1_optimised.jpg, L07_2_optimised.jpg
- my script, optimised_scanned_book.atn to load from the Action panel in ADOBE PHOTOSHOP.

QUESTIONS
1. How would you do this work to get the best result? (Please, provide an ATN file)
2. What is the best (optimised) file format to do this work?

Thanks and regards.

[Cuervo79]

The first problem is actually the scanning, since there is where you're going to get the different results. The fastest way to get the scans looking better is using levels to move the black point and the white point to the edges of the histogram. I don't know if you can get a script to read the histogram and make the appropriate adjustments you can get the results you want. You could also just make a levels preset and then record an action to do it. The only drawback is that you'll have to look at all the photos in order to see if the action did its work or you need to readjust.

[MiningArt]

- reduce/erase light characters of the reverse page.

Use a black sheet in back of each scanned page. This will eliminate most of the text from the reverse side. Scan in gray-scale to the maximum of your scanners hardware resolution.

[stereokatt]

The first thing you should do is to convert the JPG files into TIFF files to do your work on. TIFF is a lossless format so you won't degrade the image if you re-save the images several times. A JPG is re-compressed every time it's saved, which can really negatively affect an image. If possible scan the images as TIFF files. If the images have already been scanned and are now JPG files, convert them to TIFF before doing anything else to them. If the files need to be in JPG format for some reason, do the work in TIFF and then convert back to JPG as the very last step.