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How to adjust scans - Photoshop help!

Started by Warlord,

12 posts in this topic

Warlord

Warlord

Posted
Posted

Hey Photoshop experts, a little help please?

 

Here are two raw scans of a low grade Doctor Strange just as they came off my scanner into Photoshop with no tweaks. Typically I adjust the scans by increasing the brightness 20% and the contrast 5-12% or so and that makes the scans pretty comparable to the comic's appearance. At least for comics that are pretty white to begin with.

 

However with older comics where the BC is a little or somewhat tan, my scanner makes them look WAY too brown and my simple adjustments don't do the comic justice. What adjustments should I make to remove some of the brown so that I can best approximate the actual appearance of the comic's off-white to tan, but not horribly brown?

 

The scans are nearly 1MB, so don't click on them if you're on dial-up...

 

Doctor Strange #176 FC

 

Doctor Strange #176 BC

 

AFTER SUGGESTED CHANGES:

Doctor Strange #176 BC

 

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DiceX

DiceX

Posted
Posted

Adjust the "Levels"

Hit CTRL+L (or CMD+L if you're on a Crapintosh)

 

You will get a histogram.

There are three arrows under the histogram.

Click on the arrow on the right and move it towards the center until it gets the right shade.

You can click on the individual channels (Red/Green/Blue) at the top and adjust a few of those if the hue is not exactly correct.

 

Once you master it, it takes no time to make a nice looking scan.

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DiceX

DiceX

Posted
Posted

Oh yeah. You can also slide the center arrow to the left and it will open up the mid-tones in the picture as well. Makes it a little cleaner and crisper.

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Warlord

Warlord

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Wow, SO much better! I'll be able to make these look reasonable now. I shifted the rightmost arrow just a little to the left. Then shifted the middle arrow 5x as much to the left, and now we're getting in the ballpark of the right look. The BC isn't white, but it doesn't look like it's about to crumble into dust the way the scanner makes it look!

 

thumbsup2.gif! 5-stars to you!

 

 

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Warlord

Warlord

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Bonus question for Photoshop experts since DiceX nailed that one so fast. What's the gist of doing the watermark thingy in Photoshop?

 

dadaist offered of there was enough interest, but the vote hit only 5...:

watermark?

 

Do you just add another layer, make it 90% or so transparent, and then insert a full-size image with a little text or graphics image in that?

 

 

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DiceX

DiceX

Posted
Posted

Bonus question for Photoshop experts since DiceX nailed that one so fast. What's the gist of doing the watermark thingy in Photoshop?

 

dadaist offered of there was enough interest, but the vote hit only 5...:

watermark?

 

Do you just add another layer, make it 90% or so transparent, and then insert a full-size image with a little text or graphics image in that?

 

 

Open the image you want to use as a watermark.

Hit CTRL+A then CTRL+C (Select All, Copy)

Go to the image you want to put the mark in and hit CTRL+V (Paste)

This pastes it into a layer above the one with your comic.

Make it however transparant you want it by adjusting the slider.

 

*Helpful hint. If your watermark has a white background, change the properties of the layer from "Normal" to "Multiply". This will turn all white areas to invisible.

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greggy

greggy

Posted
Posted

Bonus question for Photoshop experts since DiceX nailed that one so fast. What's the gist of doing the watermark thingy in Photoshop?

 

dadaist offered of there was enough interest, but the vote hit only 5...:

watermark?

 

Do you just add another layer, make it 90% or so transparent, and then insert a full-size image with a little text or graphics image in that?

 

 

Open the image you want to use as a watermark.

Hit CTRL+A then CTRL+C (Select All, Copy)

Go to the image you want to put the mark in and hit CTRL+V (Paste)

This pastes it into a layer above the one with your comic.

Make it however transparant you want it by adjusting the slider.

 

*Helpful hint. If your watermark has a white background, change the properties of the layer from "Normal" to "Multiply". This will turn all white areas to invisible.

Too bad your Flash abilities need a tune-up! tongue.gif
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DiceX

DiceX

Posted
Posted
thumbsup2.gif893applaud-thumb.gif

 

All the other Photoshop experts are frozen out again! smile.gif

 

 

What can I say?

If there's two things in the world I know, it's Photoshop and...uh...

893scratchchin-thumb.gif893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

Well, at least I know Photoshop. 893applaud-thumb.gif

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greggy

greggy

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Posted
Too bad your Flash abilities need a tune-up! tongue.gif

 

sorry.gif

Don't worry...I'm sure that you'll get it right the next time there is a major scam happening! crazy.gif
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DiceX

DiceX

Posted
Posted
Too bad your Flash abilities need a tune-up! tongue.gif

 

sorry.gif

Don't worry...I'm sure that you'll get it right the next time there is a major scam happening! crazy.gif

 

thumbsup2.gif

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