I have a picture of a beach which has gray sand--not almost white or light brown as you would expect. It looked almost as if it had coal dust in it. When I put it into Paint Shop Pro, ver. 7, the colors were too blue. When I corrected the color cast the sand is all of a sudden a dark brown. I was beginning to think it was something in Paint Shop that I was not correctly. Since this picture was made with a digital camera I am sure it is not a scanner problem. Maybe your problem is the Paint Shop. I usually get good results with Paint Shop, but certainly not all the time. Evelyn At 03:23 PM 08/10/2004 -0600, you wrote: >Hi Andrew, > >I have my monitor settings set to match my printer output so that what I see >is what I'll get. > >I use Jasc Paintshop Pro 7 as my image editor. I've used the "levels" the >"colour cast" remover, the "fade correction", the "curve" etc. I've tried >out everything the program has to offer. > >In the pre-scan, I crop around the image so that I don't get any white from >the lid. In fact, I've sometimes placed a sheet of black paper over the >picture to replace the white. That will also produce different results. > >In most cases, I can do a reasonable job of colour correcting. It's mostly >in the skin tones, and hair colours that I have problems, especially if it's >only one person and only a few coulours in the picture. > >I have a grad picture of my son. He has mousy medium brown hair, and a fair >complexion. The background behind him is a greyish-purple. Maybe that's >the problem. >The scan has a reddish-purple cast, and shows him with mousy brown >sideburns, but the top of his head is a vivid auburn. His skin looks like >he was in the hot sun for many hours. He's as rosy as can be. > >I've been experimenting over the last day or so. I've scanned this picture >several times now, using the default settings. Each time I scan it, I get >different results. The coulouring is a bit brighter or darker, or more >purple. Sometimes the black gown is washed out - literally. Is this >normal behaviour? > >I swear! The scanner has a mind of it's own. > >Kathy > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Andrew McPhee" <[email protected]> >To: <[email protected]> >Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 8:15 AM >Subject: Re: [SP] Scanner advice needed > > > > Hi Kathy, > > > > It would be handy to know what photo software you use. Any decent >software > > should have an adjustment called "Levels" - this enables you to adjust >red, > > green and blue individually. By doing this, most color casts can be >removed. > > > > For example, I recently scanned some old slides that had changed color >over > > the years and they had a bluish cast. After I did the levels adjustment > > the colors were accurate again - skin tones looked correct and white parts > > of the image were white again instead of the insipid blue. > > > > Regards, > > Andrew McPhee > > http://mixedbunch.com/ > > > > > > > > > > At 07:03 PM 9/08/2004 -0600, you wrote: > > >I would like to hear some opinions on which scanners do a good job of >colour > > >portraits. In particular, which scanners will give an accurate colour of > > >faces, hair, etc. when scanning a graduation, or wedding photo, etc. > > >I'm not terribly concerned about whether or not it has a slide adapter. > > > > > >I now have a HP 3400c flatbed scanner, and I'm getting very frustrated >with > > >it. > > >Maybe it's worn out. Of course, there's also the streaky glass on the > > >underside. > > > > > >It scans great scenery pictures if there are many many different colours >in > > >the photo. A child sitting in a flower bed looks great. > > > > > >When I scan a colour portrait, the results are always too red or purple. > > >Someone with brown hair ends up with auburn hair. The blacks are a very > > >deep burgundy-black. Faces look like they have a sunburn. > > > > > >I've tried adjusting the colour in the pre-scan by adding a little yellow > > >and/or green, but of course, that changes the other colours too. > > > > > >Thanks, > > >Kathy > > > >