Scanning tip worth repeating...

[winwintoo]

I know this has been posted in the past, but it's worth repeating.

I scanned a photo that was cracked right across the middle and could see that the repair was going to take a great deal of clonning. Then I remembered this tip that I read a while ago.

I turned the photo a quarter turn and scanned it again and there is much less repair required now.

I hope the attached file will show what I mean. The top strip was scanned with the photo oriented right side up; the bottom strip was scanned after giving the photo a quarter turn.

Hope someone finds this useful,
Margaret

[DJ Dubovsky]

You are right Margaret, this is a tip worth repeating. I like how you added a photo to show the difference. Really emphasizes the difference.
DJ

[DannyRaphael]

Margaret:

Ditto what DJ said: Pic definitely worth 1000 words here.

I'd heard of / read about the technique of slightly rotating a picture to get better scan results under these circumstances, but until I saw the before / after image, didn't realize there could be that much difference.

Put me down as a believer now. A+.

~DannyR~

[G. Couch]

WOW! Thanks for the tip Margaret!

I have to admit, I have never heard of this technique, but now that I see this, it seems obvious.

[Ed_L]

That's a good one to bring back. I think Sam posted something on that order quite some time ago (but it could have been someone else). So that proves it's worth checking out the old posts.

Ed

[ghoffman]

That's a great tip!

Does anyone have a clue why it works? Could it be something like the light from the scanner hits the picture at a different angle, with less shadow in the new direction?

Gene

[winwintoo]

When I scanned the picture with the deep crease horizontal to the travel of the light source, there were fairly wide strips on either side of the crease that were color distorted.

When I scanned with the crease perpendicular to the light source, there was very little discoloration.

My conclusion is that the light source sort of trips over the crease and leaves a shadow.

I know that's not very scientific, the I've tested it with several photos and always get the same result. I now take more than one scan whenever there are deep creases in a photo.

Take care,
Margaret