Hi all,

Im just wondering how people scan / photograph the covers to upload here as I have started to catalog my 1600 discs for the first time in years and have realized that I have many that do not have images on LDDB.

If I try and photograph I am getting reflection off the cellophane with flash and the image is too dark without.
If I try to photograph the disc from a slight angle then the image is distorted due to perspective and I do not know how to correct it quickly.
I cant Scan the covers as they dont fit on my A3 flatbed scanner which is also dying a slow and painful death.

Cheers

Ian

http://www.myphotoshoptutorial.com/photoshop_tutorials/2008/6/24/perspective-crop.html (removed, it's a Chinese casino now)
This might help you to fix distortion if you use a slight angle (and Adobe Photoshop).

I personally do not use flash, you can try using light sources or taking pictures in broad daylight, outside.
Like on your balcony or in the garden etc.

in daylight stand directly above it, use optical zoom to capture as much detail as possible and do not use flash. The key is daylight, because even if your hands are shaking a mid-range camera will capture it without any blur. And I'd recommend removing the shrink wrap if possible.

i have an adjustable table that is sort of used as an easele for when i do my paintings.

there is a lip so i stand them up on that.
my camera is older and only good in the daylight without flash so i have to take them outside or inside my sliding doors that go out.

also you could take them out of the bags if they are in, i had to do that with some.
i used to scan them in 2 parts and put them together in photoshop but stoped back in the day when i bought a digital camera

I take mine in the room of the house which has some skylights so I get good daylight in the room.

Place them on a table propped up from behind with a box, and take the picture with my camera mounted on a tripod (so I get the least amount of movement on the camera end.)

I just go to a bright room and use my iphone to take a quick pic. I usually group 4 of them together in one shot. Then in any image editing software I crop out each one individually and save to a separate file. I find the quality is not going to be great no matter what as Julian want's the pics to be less than 150k (if I remember correctly). Make sure there is no glare and don't use flash.

TOTAL RECALL (1990) THX Laserdisc cover front and back. I need to get a tripod so the camera is centred on the Laserdisc cover and the light needs to be uniform so I don't get any light glare reflections on on the edges of the cover other than the artwork of the cover and that the camera settings are correct so it doesn't make any whites appear over-bright.

I took this in the kitchen a few minutes ago, stood on top of the fridge/freezer and later cropped off the sides but the cover or camera wasn't 100 centred where it should be.

The glare on the top edge was the camera angle the fluorescent kitchen light is behind where the picture was taken, about 3 feet behind on the ceiling, well where else would it be? Or maybe some what do you call them for photography they look like silver umbrellas. Maybe one of them might help for my indoor picture taking?



Again lower text on the THX logo is not quiet readable due to the angle I had the camera. Picture was taken about 1 or so foot away.



The black text on lower part of the cover is not quiet readable due to the slight upward tilt angle of the camera.

And my quick IrFan View tutorial (perspective and color correction):

https://www.lddb.com/help/cover/

Julien

I have taken a few cover pictures that have been updated & use the method as above.

I only have a pretty basic camera but it does the job.

As above post Julien has put on what appears to be a great way of doing things but I am so computer illiterate I can't do that .

.

I also have quite a few (mostly PAL) titles not in the collection of cover photos. Some of them aren't in great condition. If the photo is missing altogether though should I still take a picture on the basis that a photo of a creased and worn cover is better than no photo at all, or should I not bother?

If you look on my web site, there are covers for DiscoVision and Star Trek titles. Every one of them was scanned in using an HP ScanJet 4 scanner into Left and Right halves and then manually stitched back together in Photoshop.

What I'd really like to do is get a photographic rig that I can shoot straight down with and then use a diffused flash setup. I tried it with my iPhone, but I wasn't happy with the results.