STEP 1: ROTATE (if necessary)

1. First Select ALL by pressing [ CRTL+A ] on the keyboard or select the Marquee Tool on the tool palette.
2. The Tranform Tool
   * Edit >> Transform >> Rotate or [ CTRL+T ]
3. Rotate the scan until the suppose-to-be-straight-lines are straight.

STEP 2: CROP

-- cropped scan -- >

The red area is what you want to crop out.

*NOTE: The red area on the scan is something I made to indicate what to crop out for this tutorial and is not actually there for you when you go to edit on your own. -_-;

1. Use the Crop Tool to select what you want to keep and press enter.
   * [ C ]

STEP 3: CURVES/LEVEL

There are two ways to clean up this scan.

1. USING CURVES
   
   

   * Image >> Adjustments >> Curves or [ CTRL+M ] What you do here is place points on the line and move it around, changing the outputs and inputs until the white areas of the scan are white and the black areas are black. ^^ Then when you think you got it... SAVE the Curves setting. Click OK *** Click HERE for the cleaned-up scan #1. Then when you go to clean up the next page... Go to Image >> Adjustments >> Curves or [ CTRL+M ] Click LOAD Locate your previous Curves Setting that you saved. Click OK Saves you the trouble of having to manually curve it again. ^__^ *NOTE: Curves setting may vary depending on the quality of the scan. >Download< This is the Curves setting I used for this scan and the rest of this chapter and can be used on scans that are scanned by Siana from Shoujo Magic or any other scans that resemble the quality of the one being used in this tutorial.

   
   
   
2. NOT USING CURVES - Brightness/Contrast, Auto Levels, & Levels
   
   

   This is something I made up and find it works well on almost all the scans I've edited. Also it's something for editors who doesn't like using curves... like me. ^____^ Go to Image >> Adjustments >> Brightness/Contrast * Enter any value between 45-50 higher if the scan is SUPER dirty. This makes the not-so white areas white. (I used a value of 50) Go to Image >> Adjustments >> Auto Levels [ SHIFT+CTRL+L ] Go to Image >> Adjustments >> Levels [ CTRL+L ] * Enter any value between 45-100. This value should be about the same as the brightness/contrast value or higher. This makes the not-so black areas white. (I used a value of 50) If you memorize all the keyboard shortcuts (indicated in RED), you can do this all in 5 seconds. ^^ *** Click HERE for the cleaned-up scan #2.

   Any places where the curving and leveling did not pick up, use a Brush and manually clean it. ^__^

   
   
   
   
   
   

   STEP 4: RESIZE
   
   

   Go to Image >> Image Size Enter Width: 690 pixels, Height will automatically be changed. (Referring to ShoujoMagic's dimesions) I like to resize after the curving/leveling because the scan will look more smoother and better rather than resizing first and then curving/leveling. I don't know, maybe it's just me. :/ *NOTE: Different scanlation groups have different scan dimensions, ask your group's founder for the dimensions. ^__^

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