I find that adjusting the white and black level in my scanner software (Epson) produces an image that needs less work in the paint program, mostly just the dust.

Just a small technical correction. The reflective parts are not black because too much light hits the sensor, the light is at an angle to reduce glare, so on shiny images the light bounces off at an angle and never reaches the sensor. The lamination pouch scatters the light so that some of it reaches the sensor.

I'm back. I've finally been able to put the suggested ideas into practice. Now, the letters are perfectly legible but I'm still not happy with the color balance. It looks washed out.
I'm really not good at stuff like this. Would someone be able to reduce this 'washed out' effect? I would be really grateful!

Here's what I have now:

Quoting hpopp:
Very nice!  Thank you!

Quoting E.Honda:

Quote:
Quoting Taro:

Quote:
I'm back. I've finally been able to put the suggested ideas into practice. Now, the letters are perfectly legible but I'm still not happy with the color balance. It looks washed out.
I'm really not good at stuff like this. Would someone be able to reduce this 'washed out' effect? I would be really grateful!

Here's what I have now:

There's some weird moire going on with Light's face there. Did you use an unsharp filter or something?

Regardless, a bit of extra contrast and a bit less blue and it looks good enough at 100dpi, but I obviously don't have the original to compare.

Thanks for the feedback. The original has better contrast in the colors I think and the text looks more silverish than on the scan as well. I think all that is a result from using a thin plastic sheet to scan through, but I just can't seem to get the color balance corrected on them ... 

Although I agree that when rescalled to the size used in DVDP, it doesn't look half that bad, but what can I say, I'm a collector and as such a bit perfectionist when it comes to my collection.

I just finished getting some better results out of the other three scans:

original:


my version:


Full resolution:
deathnotefront-1.jpg


original:


my version:


Full resolution:
deathnotethelastnamefro-1.jpg


original:


my version:


Full resolution:
deathnotethelastnamebac-1.jpg


The best I could get out of them without knowing the originals. I mainly adjusted levels on the pics, resulting in some more contrast and hopefully more colour and did some digital cleaning.

Thanks, hpopp, those are some very good results. I think I'll use some of your adapted images and resubmit for the database, if you don't mind ...

You did understand me correctly when I said the colors looked washed out. After your corrections it looks much closer to the original!

I'm at awe reading this thread. I'm deeply impressed by the work somebody can put in and the time they can spend to get the picture of a reflective cover. I must admit I neither have the talent nor have the time to reach such perfection for my dvds, so I never tried the solutions proposed and just sat back and wait until somebody contribute the reflective covers for the dvds I have  . For the ones for which there is no contribution, I just hope and pray ...

Then, a couple of days ago, I was just surfing the web here and there when I noticed by accident a software named "Rectilinear Panorama" which claims it can easily correct the geometric distorsions caused by camera lenses and give perfect straight lines. They have some examples which look quite jaw-dropping here.

There is a free trial so I gave it a go. Here is the result:

Step 1: 10 seconds (the time to find the dvd): I first took a photo of a dvd with a reflective cover with my cheap low-resolution mobile phone, without setting any lighting. Didn't even put the dvd straight. It's just for testing. Next time, I hope I can use a better camera with higher resolution and better lighting conditions.




Step 2: 5 seconds: I opened the photo in Photoshop (Rectilinear Panorama is an add-on for Photoshop). Not necessary, But I rotated it. Too lazy to take another photo.  . Looks awful, doesn't it?




Step 3: 5 seconds: I opened Rectilinear Panorama. There are 2 red horizontal curves and 2 red vertical curves displayed on the screen.




Step 4: 20 seconds: I clicked and dragged the curves to match the edges of the dvd. There are 3 handles on each curves and it's quite easy to adjust a curve to an edge of the dvd. 5 seconds per curve. 




Step 5: 1 second: I accepted all the default settings and clicked on "Next" a couple of times. The software processed the photo and here is the result:




Step 6: 5 seconds: I clicked and dragged to define the cropping area to be saved. You can see that the picture of the dvd is now perfectly square.




Step 7: 1 second: I clicked on "Run" and this image is saved:




Total time: less than one minute...... As I have to drink coffee in the meantime, actual time spent must be 5 minutes. 

I'm convinced that much better results can be obtained with a camera with higher definition and suitable lighting conditions. It may never reach the perfection of the other solutions, but I think it's good enough for me.

All the above is done with screen-caps of the trial version, just try it to make up your own mind. Of course, I have now purchased the full version, which costs USD 69. Well worth the price IMHO.

Jim

PS for my wife, in case she reads this forum: For Christmas, a high resolution camera will be highly appreciated

Quoting GandJim:

Quote:
I'm at awe reading this thread. I'm deeply impressed by the work somebody can put in and the time they can spend to get the picture of a reflective cover. I must admit I neither have the talent nor have the time to reach such perfection for my dvds, so I never tried the solutions proposed and just sat back and wait until somebody contribute the reflective covers for the dvds I have  . For the ones for which there is no contribution, I just hope and pray ...

Then, a couple of days ago, I was just surfing the web here and there when I noticed by accident a software named "Rectilinear Panorama" which claims it can easily correct the geometric distorsions caused by camera lenses and give perfect straight lines. They have some examples which look quite jaw-dropping here.

I have also used digital photography for a reflective cover of "Un long dimanche de fiançailles: Edition Collector" (UPC: 3-322069-895135). I use Paintshop Pro X and I can't even remember what kind of tweaking, or what specific tools, I had to use to get rid of the distortion (can't check now, as I'm at work) - at least most of it. Back cover of that edition isn't reflective, so I had to photograph only the front cover for contribution.



Thanks to hpopp for the manual and Jim for the tip (have to check, if an add-on similar to that for Photoshop can be found for Paintshop Pro, too)!

My most common technique with difficult reflecting covers, when I can't make them right, is to wait until someone else comes up with a gorgeous scan with his/her contribution...    that specific technique has proven to give very good results, thanks to all helpful members in this club