Kathy, Sounds like it's time for some basic troubleshooting. Here are a couple things you could try: Scan something that is black, white and gray. Place a small piece of black paper on the scanner bed; just a few square inches is fine. Add a small piece of something gray; a photographer's gray card, or a piece of chipboard from the back of a legal pad. Lay a full sheet of white letter-size paper over top of these two things and close your scanner lid. Scan this mess with your scanner's default settings (or auto settings) for a color photograph. Let your scanner software do all the thinking. Save the scan. Now scan again without touching anything. Save. And then scan AGAIN without touching anything. Save. If you get different results each time, reinstall all of the scanner software. Repeat the test. If you still don't get consistent scans, it's probably time to scrap the scanner and delete all the software that came with it. Buy another one, which will come with it's own software. Concerning your son's photo, you can email a couple of the scans to me and I will take a look. You might want to take your son's photo to a friend and have them scan it. See what happens. If it works great on someone else's scanner, then you'll be able to draw some conclusions about your own setup. Scott Orlowski On Track Communications [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: "kaytt" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 5:23 PM Subject: Re: [SP] Scanner advice needed > 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 > > > > > > > >

Hi Scott, I'm doing this one step at a time. By the way, I like your idea of taking the picture to a friend's house to see what results I get. I'm going to do that too. I did the black, gray, and white experiment that you suggested. Is that ever interesting. I did 4 scans, and each one came out showing the white paper as a shade of pale blue, but with each scan, the blue was intensified.. By the time I did #4, and compared it with #1 there was quite a difference. Even the gray had a blue cast. Wow. I tried scanning a plain sheet of white paper, and it comes out nearly white in the center, gradually blending into a pale blue, and then progressing to slightly darker blue as it nears the edge. Is that normal? I printed my samples, and it prints what I see on the monitor, so I seem to have the monitor settings fairly accurate. I have Win XP and I have the latest driver for my scanner installed. My printer is a HP 932C, and I have the latest driver for it too. I guess I'll have to un-install the scanner, and maybe even download the driver again before re-installing. I'll see what happens then. Thanks, Kathy > Scan something that is black, white and gray. Place a small piece of black > paper on the scanner bed; just a few square inches is fine. Add a small > piece of something gray; a photographer's gray card, or a piece of chipboard > from the back of a legal pad. Lay a full sheet of white letter-size paper > over top of these two things and close your scanner lid. Scan this mess with > your scanner's default settings (or auto settings) for a color photograph. > Let your scanner software do all the thinking. Save the scan. Now scan again > without touching anything. Save. And then scan AGAIN without touching > anything. Save. If you get different results each time, reinstall all of the > scanner software. Repeat the test. If you still don't get consistent scans, > it's probably time to scrap the scanner and delete all the software that > came with it. Buy another one, which will come with it's own software. >

Hi Kathy, Hmmm. Very interesting. The fact that each scan got <progressively> more blue might indicate that the scanner produces different results as its internal temperature changes. Most scanners require a short period of time to warm up, but this sounds like the scanner bulb (tube) may be throwing substantial heat while scanning the image. It also may be an indicator that your scanner bulb is getting ready to fail. When you scan a full sheet of white paper, you might be just confusing your scanner software. I can't speak directly about your particular scanner/software setup, but the "auto" settings will undoubtedly be looking for something white and something black (as a minimum) to set the highlight and shadow points for the scan. If it's just a white piece of paper, the scanner software's brains may just turn to mush. (Take a little blonde girl in a white dress and stand her against a white wall and take her picture with flash on your camera. The resulting "high-key" photo will be extremely difficult to scan with any scanner set for "auto" settings.) The idea of the black-grey-white test is to see how your scanner is setup to scan a decent original photo; i.e. a properly exposed photo with good contrast and a full tonal range. When you scan the black-grey-white stuff that you've tossed on your scanner bed, are the whites actually white? They should have a smidgen of tone, with RGB numbers like 244,244,244 (not 255,255,255 which is pure, blown-out white highlights). Are the black area actually black? They should have RGB numbers like 2,2,2 (just so they're not 0,0,0 which would be pure, clogged-up black shadows). Now your little grey scrap of whatever that you put in the scanner is a different story. I can't tell you what numbers to look for in the grey area, and the numbers probably won't be anything close to being equal. It's highly unlikely that you'll get nice, neat, even numbers like 128,128,128, something like 160,140,120 would be more typical. But your grey thing should look like your grey thing when you hold it up next to the scan on your monitor. If your grey thing had a blue cast to it, then it should look bluish-grey on your monitor. If it was brownish-grey to begin with, then it should look brownish-grey in the scan on your monitor. If it DOESN'T, then things are not well in Sparkle City. Other things to check: Is your scanner sharing the line with other devices? Is it a USB device sharing the line with your USB printer? Is it a parallel port device that is daisy-chained with your parallel port printer? Line noise can drive a scanner operator bonkers. If all that color-data is being transmitted from your scanner and into your scanning software WHILE your computer is monitoring email in the background, or someone is trying to Instant Message you while your scanner is scanning, then weird things might happen. I could go on and on, but the hard truth is this: Your hardware might be failing and that would be an easy-to-fix problem. (Just buy another scanner.) But poor scanning results are usually traceable back to something else that is fouling up the works. The culprit is frequently the human who is sitting at the controls. Sometimes it's software, sometimes it's cabling, sometimes it's other devices fighting for the CPU's attention, and sometimes it's something so obvious that we just can't see it (Forest-for-the-trees Syndrome), like the scanner bulb is shot. Occaisionally it's something totally weird. Viruses? I guess it's possible. Interference from flourescent lights that are too close to the computer? I've seen that happen! Interference from loudspeakers sitting on the computer cables? I've seen that one also! When troubleshooting an elusive problem, it frequently pays to get radical. Disconnect your scanner, grab the CD that came with it, drag it into work and hook it up to your work computer. Scan your son's photo. Same crappy results? You could drop the scanner in the dumpster on your way to lunch, but it still might be the human component that's at fault. (You!) Different results? Better scan? Keep the scanner. And it's also not you! Go home and get radical with some other component. Full speed ahead! Scott O. ----- Original Message ----- From: "kaytt" <[email protected]> > I did the black, gray, and white experiment that you suggested. Is that > ever interesting. > I did 4 scans, and each one came out showing the white paper as a shade of > pale blue, but with each scan, the blue was intensified.. By the time I did > #4, and compared it with #1 there was quite a difference. Even the gray had > a blue cast. Wow. > > I tried scanning a plain sheet of white paper, and it comes out nearly white > in the center, gradually blending into a pale blue, and then progressing to > slightly darker blue as it nears the edge. Is that normal? I printed my > samples, and it prints what I see on the monitor, so I seem to have the > monitor settings fairly accurate.

I know nothing about scanners,I just use mine direct input,with my photo editing/Desk top publishing.and scanning text,with no problems.Could it be the light source,which is a single fluorescent tube,needs replacing.Have you be in touch with H P Nick kaytt wrote: > >I'm doing this one step at a time. > >By the way, I like your idea of taking the picture to a friend's house to >see what results I get. I'm going to do that too. > >I did the black, gray, and white experiment that you suggested. Is that >ever interesting. >I did 4 scans, and each one came out showing the white paper as a shade of >pale blue, but with each scan, the blue was intensified.. By the time I did >#4, and compared it with #1 there was quite a difference. Even the gray had >a blue cast. Wow. > >I tried scanning a plain sheet of white paper, and it comes out nearly white >in the center, gradually blending into a pale blue, and then progressing to >slightly darker blue as it nears the edge. Is that normal? I printed my >samples, and it prints what I see on the monitor, so I seem to have the >monitor settings fairly accurate. > >I have Win XP and I have the latest driver for my scanner installed. My >printer is a HP 932C, and I have the latest driver for it too. > >I guess I'll have to un-install the scanner, and maybe even download the >driver again before re-installing. I'll see what happens then. > >Thanks, >Kathy > > > >