What this tutorial will teach you: How to scan and edit your covers properly.
This tutorial uses the following software: VueScan (Available on Mac&PC) and Adobe Photoshop CS4 (though any image editor will do!).
So let's start:
1. You will need to start your VueScan. The initial window (with all the default options) will look like this:
Before you do anything, click on "Advanced" to get more options, the screen should look somewhat like this:
Set up your options like the screenshot below:
The most important thing is to scan at 600 dpi and then later reduce the size in Photoshop. This will help reduce the moiré pattern caused by the printing process while retaining maximum sharpness.
2. Let's set up the other options in VueScan before scanning.
Filters
Color
Output
By default it will look like this:
But since JPG is already a non-lossless format, we will change the output file to TIFF and then after we are done working on it in Photoshop we will save it as a jpg.
Make sure to either set a new 'Save to' location or check where the default location on your system is.
On Mac it is /User/Pictures
On Win i think it is the 'My Pictures' folder but I can't be sure.
3. Now we'll start the actual scanning.
NOTE: It is much easier to clean both the surface of the cover as well as the glass of the scanner before scanning than it is to clean the image digitally in Photoshop!
Place your cover on the scanner and click 'Preview'.
Select the area where your cover is by simply dragging over it.
Then right-click to set the white balance. This will guarantee the best colour output. If your cover has some sort of white label/type or any part that is pure white then right-click onto that pixel. Otherwise leave it as default.
Once that is done, click 'Scan' and the selected area will automatically be scanned and saved to the location your specified.
Note: Once the scanning is done your computer may use your default image viewer ('Preview' on Mac) to show you your scan result. If this happens check that the entire cover is in fact in the scan and then close it.
4. Photoshop
Now comes the actual editing of the scan. It is crucial you follow this tutorial in order of the steps listed.
4.1
Open the file in Photoshop:
I use CS4 but any version since CS/CS2 will do. Alternatively almost all 'other' image editing programs should be able to perform similar actions as the ones below.
4.2
Use the 'Ruler' tool to make the cover perfectly straight:
Select the tool:
Then drag a line from left to right along the top side of your cover, be as accurate as possible:
Having drawn that line select "Image" -> Image Rotation -> Arbitrary and then press Enter.
4.3
Crop the cover.
use the crop tool:
and drag from the top left corner to the bottom right corner of your cover while holding down the shift key this will make a perfect square.
4.4
Resize the image.
Now click on "Image" -> 'Image Size':
and change the DPI setting from 600 to 300. Leave everything else untouched.
4.5
Reducing the screening/moiré effect.
Goto "Filter" -> 'Blur' -> Surface Blur
The above settings heavily depend on the 'detailness' of your cover, drag the sliders around to see what suits your cover.
NOTE: If you have NIK Software's Dfine 2.1 plugin use that instead of Surface Blur. It is much much better even on the 'Automatic setting'. DFine can be downloaded on what.cd - Link: torrents.php?searchstr=NIK&searchtags=apps.windows%2C+apps.mac&tags_type=0&order_by=s3&order_way=desc
Have a look at these before and after pics to see the effect of blurring:
4.6
Adjust the contrast of the image.
Use the Curve Adjustment Layer to increase the contrast. There is no one formula for this simply play with the sliders until it looks right.
NOTE: Only look for CONTRAST, not colour. The next step will revert any changes done to the colours by your adjustment layer!
Change the Layer Blending Mode to 'Luminosity' this will purely change the lightness/darkness values of your image and will leave the colour untouched!
4.7
Flatten your image.
4.8
Sharpen your image.
Using the 'Unsharp Mask' filter we will increase the local contast.
Use values of:
Amount: 10%-30%
Radius: 50
Threshold: 2
4.9
Save!
At this point the 300dpi (printable) cover is done. Use the Save as.. option to save your image and name it accordingly.
Next we will save a second copy for web use and/or iTunes cover art displays.
5. Save for Web.
5.1
Use the image size dialog to reduce the size further (if you don't know where that is have a look above, it is in the screenshots.)
This time use the following settings:
NOTE: You need to set the DPI setting to 72 first and then enter the pixel values!
Settings:
Size: 600px (i like 600, some prefer 500, but it does not really make a difference)
Resolution: 72 (Resolution = DPI, 72 is the web standard.)
5.2
Sharpen again using Smart Sharpen.
Your image should be relatively small now. Use the "Filter" -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen filter with the settings as seen in the screenshot:
Amount: 250%
Radius: 0.2px
These settings will over-sharpen your image but that is okay. We'll soften it in the next step.
Make sure you use the "Remove Lens Blur" option not the Gaussian Blur one.
Now Fade the filter effect:
Amount: 30%-50% depending on your cover.
Mode: Luminosity.
5.3
Save!
This time use the "Save For Web" option and use the following settings:
JPEG
Quality: 80
Progressive: No
Blur: 0
Optimized: Yes
Embed Profile: Yes
Convert to sRGB: Yes
Then save this with a new name, do not overwrite any file as this is a low resolution file if you overwrite your original or the 300dpi version you will not have a printable version anymore!
6.
Use the lovely covers.
You're all done. You should now have a nice looking 300DPI printable cover as well as a 72DPI Web/iTunes cover.
Congratz!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that it was fairly easy to understand.
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