Help with scanned image

[Nikolas]

There isn't another place I can put this, so here it is...

I'm working on a hand written score (from the manuscript), which frankly looks AMAZING in real life. So I scanned it, instead of copying it to Finale (computer software), and I would love to print it the best way possible! But I run into this simple problem: It's grey and I want it to be black! I mean that the lines, the notes, the dynamics are all grey-ish, while they should be black.

Scanning into B&W mode doesn't work, nor anything I tried with GIMP (the 'antithesis', 'colouring', etc...)

Here's the image:



Linky to higher quality image

I would really like it to be much bolder, if not completely black (like everything that has some color turned to black, while everything else turned to white). I can delete all the accidents (from the pencil, or the scanned image), but about the black? What now?

Here's another example of an image that's correctly colored (since it's coming straight from the computer):



I'm not a graphic artist really, so there's little more I can do, unless I can follow direct instructions (take my hand and lead me), or someone doing the first one for me with hints & tips type of text alongside... :-/

Thank you all.

PS. Don't the images look very interesting from a graphical point of view? While not an artist, I find so...

[pmartin]

Try messing with the contrast. And in photoshop, there's an option on 'adjustments' called 'selective colour'. There you select the 'blacks' colours from a drop down list and then you adjust the 'black' slider to 100%.

There must be a similar option in gimp.

[ViktorijaValentina]

Here's what I've tried. I edited it in Paint.NET simply by editing the contrast and brightness levels. It's pretty simple to do so, as finding the perfect shade of black basically requires a bit of fidgeting, tweaking and experimenting.

http://i52.tinypic.com/i1jgjn.png

This is what you were looking for, yes?

[Calin Leafshade]

They arent particularly good scans and there is some clear JPEG artifacting which makes it difficult to clean up.

My suggestions:

Scan at a lower exposure, some of the image is blown out. You an always adjust the contrast afterward.
Save as a PNG from the start to avoid the JPEG artifacting.

[Ilyich]

What you need is Levels adjustment, I think it should be in Colors section in Gimp. Just move the left slider somewhere to the middle and it should be ok. And moving the right slider should help to clean up the light greys.

[Nikolas]

Ok,

Sorry for bumping the thread. just wanted to say thank you. I will rescan the pages to better resolution and work my way through that.

Cheers everyone