Question/Help re: Scanning/Fixing/Printing Covers problems

[AWILLIAMS27]

I have printed many covers from this site before with no problem.  But I had a large amount of covers I was going to scan and upload but have been coming across a problem with fixing them.
I have read and tried all of the suggestions in the threads for scanning/printing/fixing covers but when I scan a cover in and try everything, they still look somewhat blurry when I print them to see if they look right, especially the back side of the covers where the wording is.

On the screen they look perfectly fine, it is when I print them that I notice this. So I dont know if I am scanning wrong, not fixing them just right, or if it is just my printer.

I use a Brother MFC-L2700DW to scan the covers while using the VueScan scanning Software.  I have and have tried using Adobe Photoshop and Gimp (though I am new at using both programs).

I am printing the covers using an HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color (M451dn) laser printer.  I have tried printing from Windows Photo Viewer, Directly from Adobe and Gimp, with no success, but when printing covers that I downloaded directly from this site using these 3 programs, the covers print fine.

If anyone has any idea or suggestion for what I am doing wrong, I would appreciate any input as I would like to also contribute my own covers to the site.

Here is a link to some covers i uploaded on mediafire if anyone can see anything wrong with why the words on the covers print blurry even if the art prints great.

http://www.mediafire.com/folder/cr7quv70a45cf/PS4_COVERS

Thanks

[Bear78]

I don't recommend using a laser printer to try and print covers unless you have a high end, professional device.  A LJ 400 is fine for color documents but you are not going to get great artwork out of it.  You'll want to stick with ink jet printers.

[AWILLIAMS27]

It prints great artwork, it is just the words that never look right and look all blurry.  Would that be due to the LJ printer also?  I am uploading some finished images right now to mediafire and will link them, so that maybe someone can see if I am doing anything wrong.

[Arseen]

I checked 2 and the difference is that our covers are already fine tuned where as your covers are (quite high quality) raws.

Before printing they some need adjusting.
I'd say color boosting and bit darkened atleast.

I'll try adjusting one, see if that makes it better.
Gimme half'n hour.

Also might be that your covers are too detailed for your printer to handle well.
Yours are 600dpi where as our are "only" 300dpi.

And final thing that pops to mind (in addition to inkjet being preferred printer for covers) is that paper quality really matters.
Actually way more than printer type.

[Arseen]

Try this.
My skills are limited but this should look bit better.



Might need bit more work lke changing the PS4 banners as those too got adjusted.

[ShoothimNow]

I'm just piping in to say that my HP LaserJet Pro 200 Color printer is amazing and looks great while printing.  Scanning, I have to use Epsons, as the results are far suporior.

[AWILLIAMS27]

great thanks i will try to print and see how it looks.

in terms of paper type - for covers i was using the thinner glossy hp presentation paper, but also tried thicker hp matte brochure paper and even regular printer paper - all gave same blurry text result.

[AWILLIAMS27]

I checked 2 and the difference is that our covers are already fine tuned where as your covers are (quite high quality) raws.

Before printing they some need adjusting.
I'd say color boosting and bit darkened atleast.

I'll try adjusting one, see if that makes it better.
Gimme half'n hour.

Also might be that your covers are too detailed for your printer to handle well.
Yours are 600dpi where as our are "only" 300dpi.

And final thing that pops to mind (in addition to inkjet being preferred printer for covers) is that paper quality really matters.
Actually way more than printer type.

I printed it and it looks great. On screen it looks a little blurry compared to when i used 600 dpi before but when printed looked like it should. What settings did you use and with adobe or gimp?  Should I scan using 300 dpi or change it to 300 dpi after altering. 

thanks again.

[Bear78]

I checked 2 and the difference is that our covers are already fine tuned where as your covers are (quite high quality) raws.

Before printing they some need adjusting.
I'd say color boosting and bit darkened atleast.

I'll try adjusting one, see if that makes it better.
Gimme half'n hour.

Also might be that your covers are too detailed for your printer to handle well.
Yours are 600dpi where as our are "only" 300dpi.

And final thing that pops to mind (in addition to inkjet being preferred printer for covers) is that paper quality really matters.
Actually way more than printer type.

I printed it and it looks great. On screen it looks a little blurry compared to when i used 600 dpi before but when printed looked like it should. What settings did you use and with adobe or gimp?  Should I scan using 300 dpi or change it to 300 dpi after altering. 

thanks again.

Scan at 600 DPI, alter / modify, then save as 300 dpi when done.

[Arseen]

Scan at 600 DPI, alter / modify, then save as 300 dpi when done.

This.

I used Paint.net but Paintshop or Gimp should work as well.

The settings really depend on the raw material, so you'll have to play around a bit untill it looks good (I have it easy as I use 65" 4K TV with really nice colors).

In this case I first darkened the image a bit, I think I used setting -10 or -20.
Then added color strenght (saturation) from setting of 100 up to 107.
Then changed the DPI and saved as JPEG.

[AWILLIAMS27]

Scan at 600 DPI, alter / modify, then save as 300 dpi when done.

This.

I used Paint.net but Paintshop or Gimp should work as well.

The settings really depend on the raw material, so you'll have to play around a bit untill it looks good (I have it easy as I use 65" 4K TV with really nice colors).

In this case I first darkened the image a bit, I think I used setting -10 or -20.
Then added color strenght (saturation) from setting of 100 up to 107.
Then changed the DPI and saved as JPEG.

Thank you both for the suggestions.  I was at the point of being completely stuck especially since I am new to the scanning and editing part of it.  I have a bunch to scan so I think I will try your idea using the TV, and see how i do. 
Thanks Again - Amanda