hello,
i am a beginner in scanning so i need some help on how i can improve the quality of scanned image, like remove the noises and make the colors looks better.
i post an unprocessed image i have scanned lately.
maybe some photoshop genious may give it a go and show how it can be improved.
thank you

merged: 11-17-2005 ~ 02:21am
the image is here : Akane with roses by dragonv12

Usually, I would extract the image before I start to improve the quality of the image.

I used to get help for my Saber extract which can be found here:
http://forum.minitokyo.net/thread/39424/saber-bikini-extract/

SilentMasamume gave me some cool tips on how to extract but I'll just post it here:

Quote by SilentMasamune
- Click the extraction tool you want to use. Never use the magic wand tool for extraction as that may leave behind white jagged edges, not to mention that if you're extracting a scan from a multi-colored background or a multi-part background, the magic wand will not be able to pick up the whole outline. Polygonal lasso tool is effective, but you may not be able to take breaks especially if you have a screensaver set. Pen tool is very effective to adjust the smoothness of a curve, not to mention that you may take breaks in between.
- Make sure that you zoom into the scan at about 300% to 500%. The larger your zoom is, the more accurate you will be on tracing the outline. It will be virtually impossible to make an exceptional extraction when extracting at 100% zoom.
- Start your extraction by tracing over the middle to outer edge of the outline. If you're using the polygonal lasso tool, before you extract, set the feather radius to 1 pixel so that your scan will be able to blend in with your background better (the feathering isn't 100% necessary though). If you're using the pen tool, adjust each point accordingly by clicking on a point of the outline and fixing the smoothness of the curve by holding down your left click on the mouse.
- If you're using the polygonal lasso, after extraction, if you used the make new selection or add to selection peripheral on top, you may simply copy the selected area and paste it in a new project. If you used subtract from selection, you may easily delete everything around the scan, then you may copy the scan to a new project. If you're using the pen tool, after extraction, you must right click and select Make Selection. Feather at a radius of 1 pixel (the feathering isn't 100% necessary) and select the add to selection option box. Copy the selected area into a new project.
- If there are still areas of the scan that need to be extracted out, repeat the extraction steps above, except make sure that you use the add to selection option instead so that you may delete the excess areas.

After extracting, you can begin to improve the quality of it. For me, I would duplicate the image. Then I'll filter -> noise -> median and put and set it at 5px (up to you to try out) for the radius. Then, change the blending to overview or soft light (you can always experiment). Then merge the layers. Do some blurring to some parts if you find it grainy or if the edges gets jaged suddenly.

Well, I'm still a beginner, but this is what I did. =)

thank you Bjorn,
I will try your and SilentMasamune's usefull tips and come back with some result.
hope I ll be able to make something...

The scan quality method is already stated, but if the quality is *really* bad (like the scan has lines etc.) you may need to cg or vector parts of it... because an overlayed dupe might not cover the imperfections

Choose scans wisely XP