70 78s Scanned Then Enhanced And Compared

I have a hard time sorting the 70 and 78s in my collection (accumulation) so I did a little experiment with my scanner. After I scanned each stamp I used the feature in my editor to "enhance" each stamp. Finally I put each original scan along side its enhanced version and pasted them all onto a word document and then saved as a JPG. The JPG here does not do justice to the word doc.
The enhancement did not give predicted results but they are interesting. Comments?

What result were you expecting? It would be more interesting to see a single scan of all the stamps with all image enhancement options "off".

Means absolutely nothing without a detailed description of what "enhanced" really means and that each image was enhanced exactly the same.

Nothing beats the human eye.

Just to illustrate, consider these Siegel images from the same page of the same catalog number.

We have no idea how these images were generated, if any 'post scanning filters' were applied or even if they were scanned with the scanner lid open or closed. Virtually useless as any kind of color ID.

Below is the same postal card, using the same scanner, the same scanner configuration, no filters... but look at the difference in color between scanner lid open and scanner lid closed. (Scanners are calibrated from the factory using scanner lid closed, unless you recalibrate you scanner, always scan with lid closed.)


As Germania mentioned, a single scan showing all stamps side-by-side is about the best you can do. It will show the delta between the stamps. Of course it will not tell us what color they are, each of us will see different colors depending upon our graphics chipset in the computer, the LCD screen manufacturer, graphics driver software, and ambient lighting.

Don

Thanks for the comments, What I wanted to see by doing the scan and then the "enhancement" was if the true colors would come out. In my opinion they did. The enhancement brought out colors. What can't be shown on this forum is the color differences because of the limited file size. The picture here shows basically grays or blacks with a hint of greens on a dull gray background. The actual file (Word) shows vivid lilac, red, violets, blues, browns with brightening of the dull background.

My question would be: Yes, colors came out - but are they "true" colors? I don't know what software you are using or what enhancement algorithm you are using. But most enhancement algorithms try to bring color and contrast to some kind of average or "expected" colors and shading. So the enhanced images are prettier, but I don't think we would accept the resulting color as somehow more realistic or accurate for the purpose of cataloging the stamps.

Sometimes I wonder if this chat board should even entertain questions of shade/color?

Exactly how are "true colors" defined?

True to what?

Simple example on why trying to ID stamp colors on different monitors is nuts. As you can see, every display generates colors that are slightly different from one another; this can be true even if all the displays are from the same manufacturer. Yes, we can all agree that the screens above contain blue, but we are often trying to ask about very subtle color deltas on stamps. What I am seeing on my monitor can be very different than what others are seeing.
Don

Don - How did you get a photo inside of my Living Room?!

From your webcam, of course.
Don

And please put some pants on!

Thanks for the chuckle Don.