I've scanned the vast majority of my collection against a blue background, and recently changed the background to a charcoal black.......does it matter, as long as it's dark ? Please let me know your thoughts
It seems like the colors are a little....deeper/more vivid? in the first scan - specifically the red and blue of the flag, and the gold of the 50.
Aesthetically I suppose it could matter, because if you chose to publish those on a web site, book, etc, you are now forced to ensure that the rest of the color scheme is complimentary to blue. Whereas black will go with pretty much anything. It's a tiny issue though, I'd think in most cases it really doesn't matter, and I wouldn't go to the trouble of re-scanning if it were me. Dave
I don't collect paper but was a professional graphic designer for years. You want a neutral background that doesn't compete with the note (or aspects of it) but rather supports it. The blue competes with the note for the eye's attention. The charcoal is better.
I'm adding scans of graded notes, that incorporate more background color to compare.....sorry, I should have included these in the original post.
For photography, background color can affect the white balance of your photo unless you control for it (by using fixed rather than automatic white balance). For scans, I doubt that would be an issue. It definitely has a perceptual effect, though. If I were trying to produce a beautiful presentation, I'd pick a color that leads to a beautiful effect. (Actually, I'd find someone with a better artistic eye to do it.) If I were doing it as a reference, I'd absolutely use a black, white, or neutral gray background.
I think that the charcoal background shows the best coloring of the note, when comparing it to the blue. Overall, however, I think that the gray is the best.
A color background may be appealing or tempting to employ but for the least distraction and best balance for the eye when looking at the color of a note, a neutral gray should be used when scanning. It is less likely to affect the color of the note. A white background will likely cause the scanner to have an overexposed or blown-out effect destroying detail. Black appears as the best option for showing the margins fully defined without much distracting color from around the note and isn't as plain as neutral gray. Consider that when scanning the note, the color you use behind the note affects the quality of the light in the scan and the result on the image area of the note in turn. The scanner lamp can be quite intense, it reflects off the note itself and reflection of light off of a color background can 'influence' the rest of the colors in the scan as that color is diffusely present in the atmosphere of the scan. If you have graphics editing software, then the best approach yet, may be to scan the note against a solid neutral gray (like that of a 'gray card' used by photographers) or a solid non-reflective black material that will absorb light, then crop the image are of the note and drop a solid layer of: neutral gray, black, or color of your choice behind the note when creating the image file. You must be able to work in layers in your image files to do this. Separating the elements will net you much better and more accurate image results. Doing this would also allow you the ability to blend the perfect numerical color for your image file usage, in this case, jpegs for viewing online. You could optimize your colors for this purpose, but again need more sophisticated image editing software, such as Photoshop, Gimp or others. I personally prefer a solid or non-reflective black background, but I haven't exactly found the 'perfect' black material I'm happy with. I currently use two different types of black paper behind my notes when I scan 1) a sheet of black handmade paper that is very dull, with a thick fibrous texture and reflects very little lamp light and 2) a smooth sheet of solid black paper, also non-reflective. Both are quite dull looking to the eye. Two examples, raw and slabbed scanned against black paper, no cropping or layers:
Depends on what you are using your images for. I wish everyone who lists stuff for sale would use white copy paper as the back ground, for those with some PS skills, they can white balance the image knowing that the background should be white.
If I use a background for contrast, I'll add it after the scan unless I'm trying to show a clear watermark.
