Having "Fun" With The New Scanner

I was given a scanner and am trying to work out the bugs. It is a Canon MP480. I am using the Canon software package called "MP Navigator".

My first image has considerable glare on it. How can I correct this?

Forgive what may sound like rookie questions. I am color blind and I have a history of just giving up on anything to do with photography and light. What's obvious to most, is foreign to me :)

Brian

Is the stamp scanned while in a mount? ( can't quite tell) The glare seems to be coming off the mount?

Correct. I have serious reservations about placing this stamp by itself on the scanner.

The glare is caused by the curvature of the mount near the seam. If you don't want to scan the stamp outside of a mount then you'll need to use a larger mount so that the scanned portion lays flat against the scanner bed. You might be able to eliminate the glare by turning the stamp sideways in the mount that you originally scanned it in.

Fair enough. The glare though looks like it is scanner light reflected off the mount.

BTW, the color is in the ballpark for "brown lilac", although some examples may have a bit more brown.

"I have serious reservations about placing this stamp by itself on the scanner."

Why?? That's all I've ever done. Images through mounts, glassines, and stock cards are third-rate at best. It defeats the whole purpose of buying a good scanner.

I agree. The more layers of glass/plastic between the optics and the target, the greater the distortion, aberrations, etc.

Everything I scan for my website goes right on the glass.

It's the only way to fly.

*sigh* Talk about peer pressure.

I don't know why, but it just feels wrong. But I put on my big-boy pants and did the job. Here's the result. Not exactly what I had in mind ...

Brian

Put a piece of black card stock over the back of the stamp, then scan.

How's this?

It seems overly-bright to me. I'd also like to square up the image.

I always place mine directly on the glass.

And as to the black background, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a large sheet of semi-gloss black paper, then attached it to the inside of my scanner lid so I don't have to fool with manually placing a piece of card stock over the stamp each time.

In my experience some stamps don't scan that well...which I think is the situation in this case..why not try to scan another stamp and see if you notice a difference. BTW...what DPI setting are you using?

Here you go Brian-

Well done, Jeff! How did you square it up?

Picasa has a straightening tool which is very easy to use.

I'm guessing that there is autobrightness/autocontrast enabled in the scanning software, which is why the image appears too bright. Try disabling thT option.