Help with fixing up scans

[VilkaTheWolf]

Hey guys,

Chasing some tips on how to crop and straighten scanned covers as my scanner scans in A4 or A3 and not just the subject matter being scanned. Photoshop's Auto crop and straighten butchers any cover with white on them. I've resorted to using the Measure tool to straighten and then manually crop but it's never 100% accurate and always seems to be still ever so slightly skewed. How does everyone crop their scans so perfectly?

Many thanks.

[Arseen]

This is what I do:
Put hard cover book that is bit bigger than the cover you are scanning.
Leave some space around the cover so you can adjust it by turning the book.
Take preview and adjust the orientation without lifting the book.
Once the cover is absolutely straight take a scan leaving some extra space around the cover.

Then open the cover in image editing software and crop it perfectly AND CLEAN IT.

Hope that helps.

[roddSoulSilver]

how do you clean the cover scans?

[Arseen]

how do you clean the cover scans?

With blood, sweat and tears. Also consumes one's soul.
Firstly in image editing software (for example Photoshop, Paint.net, Gimp. First being probably the best. Latter two free) removing possible moire effect (if image looks like it's made of little dots or "flowers") using gausian blurr with trial and error being careful not making the image too blurry/out of focus. It helps if your scanner has moire removal (aka derasterization or de-screen). Nearly impossible on some covers, I think PS2/PS3 being worst.
Then removing scratches and dust with various tricks which depend on software.
Then color balancing and resizing.
Remember: The better you get the scan the easier the edit is.
I suggest scan at 600DPI, finished cover 300DPI.

[roddSoulSilver]

thanks! i will try it