how would you suggest improving this scan?

[Mick Dundee]

this is apparently as good as my new scanner scans, i would like to know what actions/steps i should take to improve the picture from here on (paint.net or Gimp)

[the7k]

I know this sounds like a pain, but I usually rebuild a bad scan from scratch. If there are any parts of the bad scan that I can use, I'll import them into the new cover, but otherwise I just use the scan as a guideline.

[ShoothimNow]

I know this sounds like a pain, but I usually rebuild a bad scan from scratch. If there are any parts of the bad scan that I can use, I'll import them into the new cover, but otherwise I just use the scan as a guideline.

That is extremely impressive, because you jump massive amounts of awesome covers weekly!

[tiktektak]

This scan doesn't look bad at all.

Maybe scan it at a higher dpi setting for editing.

You could sharpen it a bit and clean the dustspots if there are any. Colors look good to me so no need to alter them.

[Mick Dundee]

Maybe scan it at a higher dpi setting for editing.

Unfortunately it looks like 600 is the max it will scan at. I didn't see any other settings
 (well, higher settings)
 I was able to scan at 1200 dpi... but cant find a spot to upload it to present for the purpose i posted the other one...

oh...and also Paint.net said the 1200dpi was too big and required too much memory to load into the program

[tiktektak]

600dpi is high enough anyway.

Just thought because the scan seemed small it was scanned at a lower dpi.

Also make sure that the dimensions we require are correct for the case you want to use it in.

I very very often get covers in my hands (which are "finished" according to the uploader) which have completely bogus pixel dimensions.

[Mick Dundee]

oh no no no... i check that frequently when resizing. i scanned at 1200 dpi and resized it a few times but it seemed to get grainier.

[the7k]

That is extremely impressive, because you jump massive amounts of awesome covers weekly!

Thanks - although my pace has really slowed down lately. The reasons are two-fold - My old computer died, forcing me to use a cheap-o computer that handles Photoshop like led handles water, and I've restarted my old OpenBOR project, which has sucked a fair amount of time away from me.

Regardless, I don't plan on going anywhere. And I plan to keep making covers - it's just a much bigger hassle now that I'm using a computer that tells me I'm running out of disk space every time I open a template.

Edit: I still haven't gotten used to these demi-mod powers. Everytime I go to "Quote" a message, I hit "Modify" instead. Now I know why Oro only fights with one arm.