How to reproduce high quality photographic images with Photoshop??

I'm currently using Photoshop 6. Right now we are reproducing out of
print CDs for small record labels. I scan the covers at 300 dpi and
have a template that is a 300 dpi psd file at about 54mb.
I merge the scan onto the template, add some text and save the file as
a high quality jpeg, usally at about 6mb.
When I print the new jpeg, the front cover that was originally a very
crisp photographic image comes out a bit pixelated, definitely not the
most crisp image you can get.
I'm printing on an HP color laserjet 1500L.
My question is, how can get my prints to look more like the original cd
cover and not a lower quality reproduction?
I can't figure out if it's something in the Scan size, how I'm saving
it, or my printer??
ANY help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Mike

MikeD

Re: How to reproduce high quality photographic images with Photoshop??

On 4 Aug 2006 10:33:07 -0700, "smartipants" <robinkluz-02@yahoo.com> found
these unused words floating about:
That's a good way, but add in a slight 'median' adjustment before reducing.
It can really 'smooth' out the screen.

Sir F. A. Rien

Re: How to reproduce high quality photographic images with Photoshop??

I often have this same problem when scanning and archiving newspaper
articles/photos. The descreen setting in my scanner doesn't do a great
job, so I follow up with "despeckle" in the Filter/Noise menu. Also,
you might try scanning at 4 or 5 times the final output size and then
reducing to the final output size in PS and sharpening. Different
methods work sufficiently on different images, so I try an assortment
of steps to get the best results, including the other good suggestions
posted here. HTH. :o)

Smartipants

Re: How to reproduce high quality photographic images with Photoshop??

thanks for the explanation
I think unless you can get larger artwork (like from an old vinyl album
cover)) or the original artwork in digital format your results can not be
perfect.
You are having to scan a small orig and it has the sheen and texture of the
paper
Have you tried shooting copies on a digital camera instead of the scanning?
sometimes you can eliminate the shine problems by good lighting.
My camera has a setting for text and macro is helpful.

KatWoman

Re: How to reproduce high quality photographic images with Photoshop??

Our company has deals with record labels to produce out of print titles
on their behalf. Just looking for a way to improve the process.

MikeD

Re: How to reproduce high quality photographic images with Photoshop??

OK he is scanning artwork (NOT HIS and copyright by someone else) to put on
copies of CD's (sure sounds like piracy to me)

KatWoman

Re: How to reproduce high quality photographic images with Photoshop??

In article <MPG.1f25bfc0e66e1b7a9896d9@news.fx.net.nz>,
With a continuous-tone image that's good quality to begin with, sure.
However, keep in mind that the original poster is scanning images that
have already been halftoned. JPEG compression is particularly severe
around edges, and a scan of a halftoned image has a lot of edges. Such
an image will quite likely suffer disproportionately from JPEG
compression, far more than you might expect from a similar amount of
compression on a similar continuous-tone image.
--
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, literature, kink:
all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
Nanohazard, Geek shirts, and more: http://www.villaintees.com

Tacit

Re: How to reproduce high quality photographic images with Photoshop??

I've used the 'Median' filter in photoshop to get by this problem, with
some success.

Re: How to reproduce high quality photographic images with Photoshop??

In article <tacitr-C4516F.12414915072006@news-server2.tampabay.rr.com>, tacitr@aol.com says...
Although in general agreement regarding the use of JPEG images, a 120 mm x 120 mm square CD cover should be pretty
close to pin-perfect if it is stored as a 6 MB JPEG. After all, a typical 8M-pixel digital SLR image is saved in 4 or 5
MB if the JPEG option is chosen, and can be normally be printed as an 8x10 inch image with very little evidence of
compression artifacts.
Mike

Mike

Re: How to reproduce high quality photographic images with Photoshop??

In article <1152902886.182395.59990@s13g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
Look at the thing you are scanning with a magnifying glass. You will see
that the image is not continuous; it is made up of dots. Your eye blurs
the dots together and creates the illusion of smooth tones of color,
because the ability of the human eye to see small areas of color is
extremely poor; but the scanner "sees" the dots. Anything that is
printed with a series of dots (called a "halftone screen") tends not to
scan well.
Your scanner software should have a "descreen" option that will help
reduce these dots.
To make matters worse, you are saving a JPEG. Why are you using JPEG
instead of TIFF? JPEG is "lossy." It deliberately degrades the quality
of a picture in order to make the file size smaller. The JPEG file
format was invented for situations where the size of the file on disk is
critical, and image quality is not important. If you care about image
quality, do not use JPEG. JPEG should only be used when you have a clear
and good reason why it absolutely has to be JPEG and no other image
format will work.
--
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, literature, kink:
all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
Nanohazard, Geek shirts, and more: http://www.villaintees.com

Tacit

Re: How to reproduce high quality photographic images with Photoshop??

Your scanner software should have "Descreen" as an option that you can
select / deselect somewhere in the program, before you scan anything.
As for how it works etc. go with the Google suggestion ;-)