Scanning from RC black and white prints

[jice]

I do my own printing in the darkroom and scan in order to have an

online representation.

 

I have a flat bed scanner (Epson Expression 636) that is large enough

to scan an 8x10, but not an 11x14. In the past, I've scanned from

8x10 fiber prints. Lately, I've been printing 11x14, but made a few

8x10 RC prints (on Ilford MC pearl paper).

 

I've triend scanning these RC prints. I have noticed a problem; the

scanned image has small white "sparkles" all over the print. I can

probably do some processing on the file to remove these, but I would

like to hear some advice. I assume that these artifacts are the

result of scanning the RC Pearl print; that they are surface

reflections. Is this a known issue?

 

Thanks for any help.

[ira_wunder]

Yep!, That's a problem we run into a lot with different stiple and crystal surfaces. Print on glossy, or if you can, shoot it digitaly like any other copy work.

[elliot_n]

Another solution is to scan your 11x14 prints in two halves and stitch back together in

Photoshop. It works surprisingly well. The trick is to not adjust the scanner settings between

scans. In Photoshop, align your two layers accurately by using 'difference' blending mode.

That's how I used to scan my 9.5x12 portfolio for web images.

 

If you would prefer to carry on making small prints for scanning, then use glossy rather than

pearl.