Cosmopolitan Productions | More guides & tutorials | Mad in Pursuit  | Contact
 

Result

Goal of this tutorial

My big 17 x 12 Microtek scanner is wonderful, but — maybe it's old — I can't get out the greenish cast, no matter how often I follow its calibration directions. I can correct by eye, but a want a solution I can use over and over, especially when I scan in large batches for my Ebay store.

Level: Intermediate - assumes you know your way around Photoshop.

Software: Adobe Photoshop.

Tool: Kodak Q-60 Color Input Target card (or color card that came with your scanner) or any photographer's card with an accurate grayscale.

Problem

Black ink on white bristol board scans with the greenish tone on the left "before" image.

Step 1. Grayscale Card

Scan the color or grayscale card. Select and save the grayscale part only (see below).

You can see that the white at the left end of the "Before" grayscale is "off."

Step 2. Tonal Correction

Add a Levels Adjustment Layer from the Layers Palette button. In the dialogue box, do the following:

Select Options... Target Colors and Clipping. Set Highlights Clip to 0.1%; set Shadows Clip to 0.1%. Check Snap Neutral Midtones. Click OK. (See Auto Color Correction Options screenshot below.)

Still in Levels dialogue, select Set Black Point eyedropper and click it over the black end of the grayscale.

Select Set White Point eyedropper and click it over the white end of the grayscale.

Save... the profile you just created in the directory of your choice. Mine is called MicrotekCx.ALV

Click OK on Levels dialogue.

Now you have saved a profile that you can use on other scans.

Step 3. Scan something new

Scan a new image.

Add a Levels Adjustment Layer from the Layers Palette button. In the dialogue box, do the following:

Click on Load... Choose the ALV file you saved above.

Click OK.

Your image should be corrected! (See "After" image above.)

Step 4. Create an Action (optional)

Creating an Action will automate Step 3, so that you can then batch process a bunch of scans, from within Photoshop or starting out in Bridge.

Scan a new image.

Go to Actions panel. Click on Create New Action button. Name your action. Click on Record.

Add the Levels Adjustment Layer as specified in Step 3 above.

When you're done, click on Stop Recording button.

Your Action is now available for automated and/or batch processing.

Warning

(1) If anyone has a better solution to the problem of an off-color image capture, I'd love to hear it!

(2) Trust your eye. If a particular image now looks too reddish, turn off the adjustment layer or do your correction manually.

1.20.07

Cosmopolitan Productions | Cosmo Resource Page | Mad in Pursuit  | Contact