FUR: Fallen Angel bottle watercolor (pushing the fur part alittle)
The Werewolf!
Scanners, like digital cameras, record colour based on their sensor's
ability to handle colour - probably a CCD sensor. Every sensor will have a
different gamut or range of colours and generally detect colours either by
seeing the image through a grid of red, green and blue filters (modern
single pass scanners) or through repeated scans with each filter (older
three or four pass scanners). If you're rich or lucky, there's also the
'trueview' layered scanner which can detect full colour at each pixel.
Digital cameras are typically gridded.
Now, older scanners had a serious problems with specific colour ranges and
indeed, light blue tended to be one of the harder colours to scan, but
modern scanners are pretty decent at scanning it - so in fact, M.e.W may
well benefit from borrowing someone's scanner and trying it again. If the
scanner he's using has this problem, then the colour just isn't there to be
recovered. It's like the older colour photocopiers - they couldn't handle
blue well at all - and it's interesting that your adjusted version looks
surprisingly like what I would have expected from one of those old copiers.
I don't have a copy of M.e.W's original scan, so I can't tell how much of a
change was made... and of course, I have no idea what the original looks
like. That being said, I have to admit that I'm surprised at how weak the
blues are in the scan, based on your version.
As a comparison, my Canon S30 camera simply cannot record deep purple well.
I love the deep, intense purple you can find in some flowers and the S30
always renders them a muddy blue. I can force the colour back to what I
think it should be using Photoshop, but then the rest of the image looks
odd, so I'm either stuck with muddy blue, or I have to do a lot of tinkering
with the image to make it look right, or I can get another camera with a
gamut which works for that kind of photo.
Also, if you can get one, installing an ICC profile for the scanner may
help. ICC profiles define the colour response for a device (input and
output) against a standard and allows Photoshop and other applications to
match colours better to provide consistant colour from scan to display or
print - but don't expect perfection. I used to develop printer drivers and
we'd spend days trying to get the ICCs perfect and it's never quite right -
you'd get a good set for one batch of paper and the next batch would be just
a little different in base colour and bang - the profiles would be off.
ColorSync on the Mac uses the same concept and we used to joke that if you
want washed-out, dull colours, just turn on ColorSync. :)
One other note: you might find Photoshop's "Variations" feature more useful
than directly tweaking the settings for hue, contrast and brightness. It's
more interactive and gives you an idea what your choices will look like
before you choose them so you can steer the changes more effectively.
Hope that helps...
TW!
"Chris Goodwin" <cgoo...@unitedad.com> wrote in message
news:BA235E32.30BB%cgoo...@unitedad.com...
> in article ab2ket$lpr$2...@velox.critter.net, M.e.W. at
> MeW_arts@_bitty_hotmail.com wrote on 5/5/02 1:47 AM:
>
> >
> > No madder how many times I scanned it the light bright blues didn't show
up
> > at all. It's from one of my favorite series of paintings. Need better
> > scanner.
> >
> > Hope it fits in here.
> >
> > -MeW
>
> a scanner is just a digitizer, it has no idea what you're scanning, nor
> how it should look.
>
> 90% of anything you scan will -always- require you to adjust the image
> afterwards in photoshop or something similar.
>
> it's just like with an expensive camera, etc. you can point it at
> something, but you'll still have to adjust the focus yourself if you
> want the best image you can get.
>
> unless you trust autofocusing to do it for you, which is a poor compromise
> and will often not work..
>
> it's not your scanner, you just need to make adjusting your contrast and
> color levels a part of your scanning process.
>
> I have no idea how the original image looks, but I took your scan and
> finetuned the color levels and contrasts until it didn't look so washed
> out to me. The blues and richer colors are more pronounced now. Try
> fiddling with the picture yourself :^)
>
> In Photoshop, play with these controls until you're comfortable with
> how they work :^)
>
> Image > Adjust > Levels
> Image > Adjust > Hue/Saturation
> Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast
>
> Attached is what I was able to do with your image. Let me know if you
> need any help, or have any questions about any of this, etc.
>
> Take care!
>
> Lovely picture, by the way.
>
> c
>
>
M.e.W.
"The Werewolf!" <were...@vargr.com> wrote in message
news:atku7o$fs4$1...@velox.critter.net...
>
> Now, older scanners had a serious problems with specific colour ranges and
I think my scanner had a centennial a while ago, it doesn't even have
circuits inside it. Just a bunch of very small abacuses. :P
I recall that's why non-photo blue pencils can about, it wouldn't show up in
a color copy. Same as in a lot of currency out side the U.S., they made them
from dyes that aren't easy to scan with a copier. Leave it to me to have
that dye in my water color tray at the time.
> One other note: you might find Photoshop's "Variations" feature more
useful
> than directly tweaking the settings for hue, contrast and brightness. It's
> more interactive and gives you an idea what your choices will look like
> before you choose them so you can steer the changes more effectively.
I usually just watch as I alter, but I'll keep that in mind since I'm
looking to upgrade PhotoShop after I upgrade my computer for animation. :D
> Hope that helps...
> TW!
Always appreciated, thanks.
-MeW