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• • March 3, 2012 at 5:20 pm #61738
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hi there

    Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask. My question is really more on the Photoshop side than the InDesign side this time, but I don't know where else to ask…

    I'm scanning some old (15+) newspaper articles for my martial arts master (he is the best when it comes to his Kung Fu, but a white belt when it comes to computers :p ). I then clean the page after “gluing” it toghether with Photoshops Photomerge – my scanner is only A4 so I can't scan the whole page(s) at once. In the end I put on a simple levels adjustment layer to set up the contrast a little before I put it into InDesign and export a A3 PDF to print (my master wants to print out the articles to hang in the corridor of the dojo so the pupils can read them without putting the originals into danger).

    The thing is only that I find the pages still quite greyish and the text grey and “unsharp” and the background partially grey after having used the adjustment layer. Is there a way to really get the text crisp and readable and the background white (while also removing some of the black spots that shows up)?

    In advance, thanks for the help

    Edit: I'm using CS5.5 on a Mac if that is needed info.

  • March 4, 2012 at 2:04 am #61739
    Theunis De Jong

    Member

    If you want to preserve as much as possible of the original black and white contrast, try this:

    1. Zoom in on a spot with some text that's in the worst shape (muddled, lots of grey).

    2. Add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer and switch on the toggle that says “Legacy” — I find it's much easier than ''the new method' :)

    3. Drag “Contrast” almost all the way to the right. You should see a clear, crisp image by now — but with 'too much' or 'too little' black pixels.

    4. Dragging “Brightness” alters the amount of gray that gets converted to almost black/almost white. Drag to & fro until you find a setting that looks best for both “good” parts of the image and “bad” parts.

    5. Now slightly reduce “Contrast” again to get rid of the stark edges — it will bring back a slight softening so it won't look too artificial.

    

    If there is lot of “dirt” in your scans, you can use this trick: add another adjustment layer and drag both Brightness and Contrast to the far right. That way you can spot the worst black splotches and use the eraser to remove them.

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