2014.12.22 • 'Danni Ashe' in BACHELOR （バチェラー） JULY 1996 VOL.20 NO.7 • Set 1 • 12 IMG + 1 BONUS IMG (Ayleen Lapper)

I finally have restored fresh scans of Danni Ashe, my first set ever of the "90s Queen of Slim'n'Curvy" (from THE Japanese 'BACHELOR' mag)! :O

I did a second Scanner Calibration before scanning this set, so the colors are as true to the print source as possible with my current scanner (I only let the scanner apply a calibrated color profile, everything else is handled in Photoshop, so I have full control of the final quality).

I included a BONUS image too....of Ayleen Lapper, from a very HQ glossy page...personally, I believe it is one of the best-looking scans I have released, so far.

Before your eyes hopefully will enjoy the final scans, I want to show a side-by-side comparison below, so you have an idea of the Scanner Calibration Results. Even though the Untouched scan to the left (before calibration) does not actually look that bad, the colors are more flat (or more "lifeless", if you will). The Calibrated scan in the center shows more true colors (and more shadow details), but has a slightly green color-cast which has been removed in the Retouched scan to the right.

Untouched (Before Calibration) Vs Calibrated (Scanner) Vs Retouched (Photoshop)

Bonus Scan of Ayleen Lapper

New scanner + calibration = Leah Stewart in BACHELOR - JUNE 1997 (Vol.21 No.6)

After a long break from scanning, I recently decided to get a new (bigger!) A3 scanner which is seriously great for large photobooks. :O It is a bit overkill for private use...still, I wanted a good A3 scanner. They seem hard to come by for anything else than business purposes. But this flatbed CCD scanner seemed to be the right choice for my purposes.

Sadly, I am a sucker for quality and meticulousness, so I wanted to achieve the best results possible from my new semi-high-end scanner: a scanner calibration was highly needed (but shite...this is complicated stuff, even for a seasoned hobby scanner like myself with 10+ years of Photoshop experience).

I spent weeks learning about calibration. Finally, I purchased an IT8 target from targets.coloraid.de (very high quality and non-pricey), one based on FUJIFILM Crystal Archive Paper and another on KODAK Professional Paper. I used the Fuji target for my first calibration. The result is amazingly true colours, I must say (calibration is a must for graphical artists who are scanning their work). The scanner calibration is not permanent. From my understanding, calibration should be done once in a while (due to the aging of the scanner's bulp which causes colours to change after a certain period).

Now to the goodies :) ...well, just a single scan to show off the current calibration results. And not least, to show off the sweet'n'busty Leah from mid/late 90s for the very first time in this blog. :)

Plustek OpticPro A320 - Flatbed-scanner

IT8 Calibration Target (FUJIFILM Crystal Archive Paper)

= Leah, after calibration and restoration!

My "before calibration" scan was a different image that I won't be posting, so you will have to compare with my older scans to see the difference in colour quality (hopefully obvious!).

My scans are still restored in Photoshop, but the scanner calibration should greatly reduce the time spend on restoring scans. :O

I still have a lot of non-scanned stuff, and the calibration have certainly revived my motivation to actually scan that stuff, so hopefully I can find time to update this blog a bit more in the future!

Note: I decided to post in English again :P

Note 2: For best viewing quality, monitor calibration is needed. For this, I recommend LCD test pages like the Lagom LCD monitor test pages and/or X-Rite ColorMunki Display (non-pricey, decent results with included software, optimal results with dispcalGUI).