yaoi.caAdvanced Techniques
Introduction
Please click on images to view its full sized version (so you can see all details).
In some instances (i.e. for scanlation) you may wish to actually tweak the black and white images beyond what the scanner software and batch process can accomplish. Typically you need not go this far for sharing sample scans, but if you really wish to produce an impeccable image or for the purposes of scanlation, you may wish to individually tweak each image.
Leveling Before Resizing
(Addendum Jul-26-06) Levelling the first time in the scanning software will provide you with a good basis on which to further level. Open the scan in your graphics program and before you resize, level again (for the second time). Reposition the black point about half way between the first edge and peak from the left side. Reposition the white point about half way between the first peak and valley from the right side. Reposition the mid-point a small degree (I enter a value of 1.05) to a slightly lighter point.
You can, alternatively, drag the black and white points of the Level tool to achieve the results you wish, but take extreme care not to over or under level. I don't recommed this method (although used to use it myself).
Leveling After Resizing
(Addendum Jul-26-06) After resizing, you will want to level a third time. For this I zoom to 400% and focus on an area where there are blacks, whites and greys. If there is a very lightly toned area (often with some sort of background image), I definitely focus on that region so that I do not inadvertently level too far, resulting in loss of detail or diminishment of the image. Reposition the black point about half way past the first peak towards the inner edge from the left side. Reposition the white point at the edge of the first inner valley from the right side. Reposition the mid-point a small degree (I enter a value of 1.05) to a slightly lighter point. Watch your white point -- especially when your scan contains light greys.
I have found this three step levelling technique quite effective in providing a sharp, clean scan. After the third levelling, all I do while the image is at 400% zoom is remove unwanted grey spots with a white brush, and blacken the blacks with either a black brush (if a large area) or by way of the burn tool. Edges I often clean up with the stamp tool.
And that's it for scanlation quality scans. Some further techniques and comments below.
Curves with Black and White
You might also wish to try and play around with the curves of your black-and-white image. I find this useful in some rare instances, but I know some people are real pros with this technique.
Take care not to blur the image by tweaking too much. The curve tool is best reserved for colour images and not black and white.
Making the Blacks Black
Notice how the black portions of the scan are not all entirely even and mottled with grey.
Use the Burn tool or a black coloured Brush to manually darken the areas that need be.
Using a black coloured Brush is advantageous for regions that are entirely black. The Burn tool is advantageous when sweeping over regions where the blacks must be made completely black, and the whites need to be preserved (the Burn tool ignores whites).
Take care that you do not lose some detail as a result of over burning. Notice the difference in the character sitting on the steps and the lost detail of his ensemble. If necessary, change the brush size to reflect the area that you are burning. Ignore my exposure set at 100 above -- use 30 instead (although some people use less than that -- I haven't the patience).
Making the Whites White
Pay particular attention to characters' faces. Eliminate any grey specks by choosing the Brush tool, white with hard edges. Change the brush size to reflect the area that you are touching up. There are other techniques that can be used such as the bucket tool (this requires a little bit more practice) and selective leveling (again, practice).
Spot whitening with the brush is usually sufficient.
Black and White Page Gutter Shadow
The gutter shadow (page curl) will be darker and noticeably different from the rest of the image.
One of the most effective ways to contend with a gutter shadow (darker portion of the page) is to select that portion and level only that portion. The black point usually does not need to be moved too far, but the white point may have to be moved quite a bit in order to mesh with the surrounding image.
Sizing Tips For Scanlations
(Addendum Jul-26-06) Open the raw scan, level a second time as per above, and resize. Select one output size and stick with it throughout the project. I use 1100 pixels high by a comparable width (in the examples below with a larger manga size I choose 775 pixels wide, and for regular manga I use 768 pixels wide). It's important to resize by either the height or width in such a way that you will need to crop the image to attain the perfect consistent size (it's generally more difficult to add to an image than remove from it). In the example below I set what will ultimately become the height at 1100 pixels.
Crop the image to achieve the other dimension. In the screen cap below you can see that I modify the canvas size to achieve an ultimate width of 775 pixels. As there is extra white space on the top portion of the graphic, I elect to crop out the extra pixels from that side. If artwork stretches to both sides, I make a judgment call. Usually you're only shaving off less than 10 pixels so it's usually not too traumatic.
More Levelling
Even after the three step levelling process, you may wish to quickly check the levels to see if you could improve upon the already three times leveled scan. Sometimes a little nudge of the white point is all that's required to eliminate stray grey specks. As always, careful to not over-level.
Blackening & Whitening After Final Levelling
I always zoom the image to 200% or 400% so that all the faults are more obvious upon inspection. I start at the lower left of the image and scroll my way up, then across to the right and down. I prefer the Burn tool (ignore the Exposure set to 50 in the image below -- I now use 30) for areas of the artwork where the blacks need to be fully black and the whites must remain white. Again, use the white brush for areas containing unwanted specks of grey. You can either do one pass to blacken and a second pass to whiten or switch tools as you creep around the scan once.
Cleaned images do look much better. Again, cleaning while at 400% (I used to use 200%, which is why the image below shows 200%) is often best to notice all the details.
Adding Text
Text can be added before or after the removal of the Japanese text. I prefer before since the Japanese text's style will remind me to edit the text appropriately (i.e. for shouting, narration etc.).
If you can, take advantage of a graphic program's styles for all the various types of text formatting you are likely to use in your project. This enables you to quickly apply the right look. I also use styles to quickly switch brush assets on the fly as well.
In Closing
There are many other techniques that can be used to clean up scans, best instructed by those who are more talented and experienced. Please check out the resources section for links to those who are are far more experienced and effective in image tweaking than I.
advanced techniques 
