Scanning covers - MobyGames

Forums > MobyGames > Scanning covers

Dae (7182) on 3/8/2008 5:14 AM · Permalink · Report

I just noticed this, the Cover Scanning Tips page states this:

Don't make any corrections such as color, sharpening, filters, contrast, etc.

while one of the Tip of the Days says this:

What's the correct policy? I personally don't apply any filters of any kind to my scans.

Multimedia Mike (20664) on 3/8/2008 6:57 PM · Permalink · Report

For my part, I have about 800 scans to my record. I just do the descreening step in the scanning software. My stuff is never rejected. And that was only after I got the scanner with the descreening software. Before that, I applied no extra mods. Again, my stuff was never rejected.

Depeche Mike (17455) on 3/8/2008 10:39 PM · Permalink · Report

I think if you really know what you're doing then it's probably ok to fix things up but a lot of people goof around too much with Photoshop. However, the problem with scans is that oftentimes they actually aren't a good representation of what the cover really looks like by bleaching out blacks and matting down saturation of colours. Don't get me started on foil/holographic covers!

Игги Друге (46653) on 3/8/2008 10:43 PM · Permalink · Report

I usually adjust levels and contrasts. It's not as though the scanner does that for me.

chirinea (47495) on 3/8/2008 10:47 PM · Permalink · Report

Yeah, I sometimes use color correction to get the white surface under CD scans to become really white.

Corn Popper (69027) on 3/9/2008 2:42 AM · Permalink · Report

well you should calibrate the white to be white first

chirinea (47495) on 3/9/2008 2:47 AM · Permalink · Report

Yeah, I use Microsoft Office's Photo Editor, it asks me which color should be white and corrects it. It makes the scan more faithful to the true colors of the scanned object.

Dae (7182) on 3/9/2008 4:18 AM · Permalink · Report

I don't even think I can calibrate my scanner.

Xantheous (1495) on 4/6/2008 5:25 AM · Permalink · Report

I use the "Descreen" option in my scanner software (Which doesn't have any adjustments other than "on" or "off"), but I find that I still get mosaic and interference patterns when I load the scanned image into Paint Shop Pro and select various zoom levels, so I use the tip you mentioned that's featured in the tip of the day (Gaussian blur and unsharp mask) and it works great.

I think you should only bother doing this if your finished scan has the above mentioned interference patterns when you zoom in and out of the image. This will ensure that everything will look okay when Mobygames resizes the image.