Scanning a newspaper to match

Larry Peterson

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
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I am in the process of doing 9 frames, each contain 7 newspaper articles. All the articles were dry mounted on black foam core.

Of the 63 articles, 62 came out fine, but one is partially folded over on itself and is unusable. The customer doesn't have a spare so I have to scan one of the good ones and use that.

The problem is that I can't seem to match the newspaper background. The one I'm doing is primarily a photo with some text.

Anyone have any Photoshop tips for filters or tricks for getting the background to match the original?

Here's a completed one. It's for a repeat customer whose husband died in a farm accident last fall. The entire community pitched in to get the harvest in and these frames are gifts for some of those who helped. The one I'm trying to scan is the "Friends Helping Friends" photo on the right. It's important that I get it right.

BTW, everything is parallel. Its just my photo that looks off.

pam.jpg
 
When we have this problem, I have found if I use adjustment layer it works best for us. We scan the newspaper and then work on the photo to match other newspapers and then work on the text in a adjustment layer--(we do this because you can change the contrast and pick-up just the text) -- when done we create a newspaper background to place everything. We find we are doing more of this type work every week, maybe because other framers have not found a method that works for them.
 
Or print it on newsprint and expose it to the sun until the color is correct. That's what I'd probably do. Even if you match it, years from now, it'll appear different as the clippings age differently than your digital print.

I'd laserprint directly onto newsprint.

Andrew
 
I've tried working with the contrast and background without a lot of success.

I never in a zillion years (or whatever I have left) would have thought of printing it on newsprint.

I've got a box of 30 pound newsprint that I use for packing material. I'm going to compare it to the actual newspaper and see if they are similar. If they are, I'll cut down some and see if it will feed through my laser or inkjet printer at the shop. Trying to print it on typical white computer paper hasn't worked.
 
Larry, you can do some aging tests. I don't know what the weather is like back there right now, but put out a dozen strips of your newsprint in the sun. Record the time, say, 1 p.m. Every 20* minutes remove a strip and record the exposure time. (*I'm making an educated guess, you may find your time needs to be 10 minutes or 40 minutes—or even hours over more than one day!) Once your exposures are done, compare them all to your original newspaper(s). Note the exposure needed to match, e.g., "2 hours 40 minutes exposure starting at 1 p.m."

Print your replacement piece. Expose it based on your testing. I recommended laserprint since it's carbon-based and won't fade easily, much like the newspaper ink. If you do inkjet, then you may find that you have to print your replacement after the paper is exposed in the sun. (The ink may fade in the sun, though it depends on the quality of the ink.)

Hope that helps.

Andrew
 
Sepia tones are the hardest to match.

I like to convert all to B&W and then play with contrast and levels.

Then go back and add exactly the same red and yellow correction to all photos and they should look the same.

Even a color photo will convert and match the others.
 
I scanned the article and printed it on newsprint without any editing. I was worried whether the 30 pound newsprint would need properly on my printers but it fed fine.

I printed it on both my laser and inkjet. The inkjet came out best. Without any editing, it is almost good enough. So back to Photoshop later for some editing and I will be good to go. The quick first print matches the newspaper very well so no aging will be needed.
 
Reprinting newspaper articles, whether old or new, on actual newsprint is one of the more brilliant ideas I have seen lately. I only hope that I can remember this idea, should I need it in the future.
 
If I were any more brilliant, I'd need to pass out sunglasses. ;) Of course, I have my occasional moment where a flashlight might be more appropriate!

Andrew
 
It only makes sense when you are framing actual newspapers, Rick. Might as well have everything turn brown at the same rate. Matchy matchy, ya know?
 
I'm glad it worked for you but I gotta say I think Professional Imagers owe the customer more than photos that are destined to fad away.
 
Why not just scan all of the pieces? Then print them on newsprint that way they all match.
 
Why not just scan all of the pieces? Then print them on newsprint that way they all match.

I had already dry mounted all 63 pieces with just one that was bad. The one I scanned and printed on newsprint matched perfectly. The only way I could tell it from the others is that while I had it in Photoshop, I cleaned up a few issues from the original. Very minor issues and only I could probably tell.
 
I'm glad it worked for you but I gotta say I think Professional Imagers owe the customer more than photos that are destined to fad away.

I'm not a professional imager, I'm a framer. This was a one-off. I regularly get requests to print articles for framing and I have been turning them down and referring them to a printer to get their prints which I will then frame. I don't have a high quality printer for high quality photos and such but my Epson all-in-one is good enough for newspaper printing.
 
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