Expert: Glen Demers - 2/8/2009

Question
Hi Glen, I have a number of photographs I would like to reproduce-however the negatives, I no longer have. This only leaves me the option of scanning and printing the prints. I have noticed however that when doing this in the past-the scanned image always seems to be somewhat darker or lighter. Have you any tips for producing the best reproduction of any image-perhaps using Photoshop 7, which I have. The scanner I use is the Canoscan Lide 60 and there are also additional settings-fading correction and backlight correction. I also notice that when it comes to printing-there is a choice of using printer half-tones-should I choose this? I use an Epson Stylus Photo R360 together with the best quality Epson Photographic Paper. I would be most grateful for you help. Davey


Answer
Hi David,

I'm not familiar with the scanner you have or the software that came with it. If there is a prescan option, you can use that to set the highlights and shadow points on your image. You want to capture the most data from your scan by setting the light and dark points to match your picture. There may be auto-color, instant correction, auto-set buttons in the software, you'll have to experiment with these. If not then scan at the highest resolution, RGB and 16 bit if possible and bring the scans into Photoshop for correction. When you look at a histogram of the scan you want it to extend from end to end - this tells you that you have extracted the most information from the scan.
I'm not familiar with the half-tone printer setting, again, just try it and see if it looks any better.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop 7
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

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