Planning on scanning. Feedback/advice?

[breakmanexe]

Hello. I've known about The Cover Project for some time (and have printed covers from here as well). I just recently acquired a new scanner, and now I intend to show my thanks to the community in the form of raw scans available for all to use as they wish. Before I begin mass-scanning and uploading, please refer to the image shown at the following link:

**link removed**

Scanned at 600 DPI with descreen enabled on a Canon LiDE120. I'd appreciate it if a discerning eye or two could give me some feedback on the scan quality. If the quality is low, please let me know what I can do to make it better.

Thank you.

[Taketheword]

My first bit of advice would be -- scan the insert and the manual separately. By scanning them together, the difference in thickness results in overall less flatness. In general, separate scans will have higher quality. I cannot tell if you did, but be sure to stack multiple books (the heavier the better) on whatever you're scanning.

[irvgotti452]

Good quality from what I see, just like said above scan them separately so they come out flat. 

[breakmanexe]

Thank you for the advice. I've begun scanning my PS2 collection (removing the inserts, smoothing them out by hand as best as I can, scanning them with the last 3 hardback Harry Potter books atop the scanner lid) and will move through every game I have original cases/boxes for.

[Taketheword]

Thank you for the advice. I've begun scanning my PS2 collection (removing the inserts, smoothing them out by hand as best as I can, scanning them with the last 3 hardback Harry Potter books atop the scanner lid) and will move through every game I have original cases/boxes for.

For inserts, I am sure the scanner lid with weight on top will work just fine, but for boxes, I would recommend putting a few sheets of white paper on top of the box -- followed by lots of heavy books (I personally use a bunch of programming books. It ends up being about 15" of solid book on top). I don't bother using the scanner lid for boxes. The purpose of the white paper is so when scanned, the space around the box is solid white (instead of showing the back of a book).

I hope that made sense^.

And I thank you in advance for any scans and/or covers you contribute.

[shenske]

I actually leave the lid open and stack the books directly.
I place a few pieces of white paper down on top of the box I am scanning and add the heavy books after.

[Taketheword]

I actually leave the lid open and stack the books directly.
I place a few pieces of white paper down on top of the box I am scanning and add the heavy books after.

Read my comment right above yours  .

[shenske]

I'm just echoing / agreeing with you 

[breakmanexe]

I've hit a snag. I have multiple first-print Kingdom Hearts games which all have reflective covers. The scans for these come out absolutely terrible as a result. How can I produce usable raws from these, or should I even bother?

[Taketheword]

I've hit a snag. I have multiple first-print Kingdom Hearts games which all have reflective covers. The scans for these come out absolutely terrible as a result. How can I produce usable raws from these, or should I even bother?

I can honestly say, I have no clue how to get a good scan out of that. You could experiment with it, but the fact is, scanning requires light, and light causes reflection. This is kind of a wild idea, but maybe something could be used as a physical filter. Maybe try putting a clear sheet of plastic over it (the type used on cases). But like I said, I have never attempted this.

[ShoothimNow]

I would probably save for the Kingdom Hearts cover.... Camera at tons of angles, and then have a photoshop Pro frankenstien the cover together to pic out the best parts

[PX0]

The best way would be to rebuild the cover from other sources.

Kingdom Hearts is fairly easy, because the exact same image was used on other iterations of the game, without the glossy effect.
(On the manual, on the Platinum Edition, on the Greatest Hits edition.)

-> http://www.mobygames.com/game/ps2/kingdom-hearts/cover-art

[breakmanexe]

I noticed this is definitely true for KH1 when I scanned my Greatest Hits variant cover. Literally the only difference is a slight difference in size of the scaled image (and also the company logos are different on mine; Squaresoft for the original release and Square Enix for the GH variant). As I do not have Greatest Hits versions of the other games, I will scratch these from my list for now and possibly revisit them later if feasible.