Thread - How to improve the scanning of poor quality scores

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How to improve the scanning of poor quality scores ⟨User:Piupianissimo⟩ [#2727]

Hello Piupianissimo ! Carolus has suggested I contact you or Cypressdome about scanning those scores I have that haven't aged very well, on account of the poor quality of the paper employed, which turns yellow and stained (see the thread Scanning Problematics in my talk page). I have read the explanations you give about how you proceed with your own scans, but the problem I have with a fair number of scores in my personal library (which is quite huge) seems difficult to correct, unless you can suggest a way out. Thank you for your attention.

Posted at 14:22, 21 November 2012 by Jurabe

Hi Jurabe,
sorry but I really can't understand your problem. Sure I understand, that the paper of the scores you want to scan has darkened with the years. But I think your monochrome scan looks ok (Diabelli Op.163). I converted your color and greyscale scans to about 600dpi monochrome and they don't look better.
If you want me to give you an advice, I would say:
1. scan at 600dpi (your mono was 300dpi and the others about 200dpi and 150dpi)
2. scan at monochrome and use your scanners brightness or threshold to control the level between black and white pixels (nothing else is what I did to convert your color scans, simply searching for a good level between black and white) - NEVER use any dithering or something like this, that tries to convert grey as ordered (or disordered) groups of black and white pixels (that only makes sense to convert pictures)
3. if realy there is some dirt remaining on your scans, because the real dirt is darker than the print (there is no washing powder that knows a difference between color you want and color of dirt), you can take the time to "clean" it from the scans using some paint program - there are many good free ones.
Hope this can help you with your problem. Feel free to ask again and tell me, if you have uploaded any scan of yours.

Posted at 20:18, 21 November 2012 by Piupianissimo (administrator)

Hello Jurabe, I have looked at some of your recent scans - Piupianissimo is absolutely right: they are good! But I know the problem with yellowed pages and inferior prints very well! Sometimes I can improve the quality, as I scan those kind of editions in grayscale (600 dpi). This has the advantage that you can manipulate the images afterwards (gradation, contrast) - which is hardly possible with black and white scans. THEN I convert to black and white. But the success of this method also depends on the scanner and what image editing program you use. Kind regards,

Posted at 00:52, 24 November 2012 by Ralph Theo Misch
Edited at 01:17, 24 November 2012 by Ralph Theo Misch

Quite apart from technical things: Apparently your library contains many valuable and rare scores. Please keep on scanning!

Posted at 00:59, 24 November 2012 by Ralph Theo Misch

Thank you both for your input. The problem Piupianissimo I have is that my A3 scanner (Plustek Optic Pro A320) cannot go higher than the resolutions you detected, why I cannot fathom, as it was advertised as capable of 9600dpi. I'm missing something there. The other scanner I use is an A4 Epson which displays much higher resolutions but it comes with far better software. I'm afraid I can't be bothered with touching up the scans, since I have such a backlog of scores that deserve consideration as Ralph Theo Misch intimated. A good example of this is the current upload I'm dealing with : Franchomme's op.35 Etudes for the cello. At first, I decided against it as there was already a very clean Peters edition on that page, but looking closer the older edition proposes different bowing signs etc... so I decided it was worth uploading, even though the file is oversize because of the 200dpi grayscale scan. I have left 3 examples of the same page 1 : one is b&w : smudgy, another is grayscale converted to b&w (the ledger lines partly disappear) and the 3rd is normal grayscale, more legible.

Posted at 15:23, 24 November 2012 by Jurabe
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