Get quality deck images with phone (no scanner)

General discussion about the Playing Card Database.
Announcements and updates wil lalso be posted here.

Moderator: Playing Card DB Mod

User avatar
ecNate
Member
Member
Posts: 2099
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:46 am
Collector: Yes
Player: Yes
Decks Owned: 400
Location: Wisconsin
Has thanked: 420 times
Been thanked: 440 times
Contact:

Get quality deck images with phone (no scanner)

Unread post by ecNate »

TLDR Version - Just use the Google PhotoScan app, it's available for either iPhone or of course Android. Please do read anyhow though, there's good tips below.



There have been a number of 'poor quality' deck images/scans provided since P52 opened the doors for more submitters. On one hand a poor image is better than none at all, with the theory being that an editor with better equipment/skills will provide a better one eventually. The reality however is that if a poor submission is added few will take the time to update it and most critically a submitter who otherwise could have provided a better image is now hindered from updating it because they are submitter and not editor.

The best method is STILL to use a flat bed scanner to a PC and then properly crop the deck image. This results in the best image quality most of the time. Scanners can also be found fairly cheap used, especially if you buy an old printer with one built in (even if you never use the printer).

However, to address those without access to this equipment and your only option is a phone, there is a way to do this properly. Especially since Google released an app in mid November of last year called 'PhotoScan'. This automatically will do some color corrections and crop the photo, but most critically will adjust the skew angles which is the largest problem with using a phone. It's near impossible to position the phone on exactly the same plane as the deck and this results in <>90 degree corners. There's also the potential issues with focus and lighting, but those we can address as well.

Step 1 - Get the PhotoScan app, it's available for either iPhone or of course Android.
Step 2 - Use a contrasting and ideally uniform background to place the deck on (if you have a brown deck, don't put on a brown table). In most cases it's simplest to just put the deck on a sheet of white paper (or colored paper if a white deck).
Step 3- Make sure you have proper lighting (indirect natural sunlight is best, but if indoors avoid direct or fluorescent / low K temp lights)
Step 4 - Check that you have a clean camera lens (fingerprints and dust/dirt can make the photo blurry)
Step 5 - If you will eventually remove the cellophane from the deck, do that first as it can cause reflections. If you don't open your decks, that's fine just be especially careful of reflections.
Step 6 - Use the PhotoScan app to 'scan' the deck. It will walk you through the process, but basically you take an image and then it has you take 4 more in each of the 4 quadrants of the image. You may then optionally adjust the corners/edges. Be sure to place the phone on roughly the same plane as the deck by holding it directly above the deck. While the app will automatically correct for this, it's not totally perfect and extreme angles will miss edge details otherwise. Obviously if doing so results in shadows or glares then adjust position and let the app correct the skew more. KEEP YOUR HANDS STEADY, don't go too fast.
Step 7 - Save the image to your phone, more important if using iPhone, so that you can then use it to upload to the site.

Jump to 1 minute mark for the basic how to.


By the way, this also is a great way to 'scan' printed photos as well. There's also Photomyne (iPhone only) which lets you do entire groups of photos in one shot that will automatically separate into individual photos, but doesn't handle skew problems as well.

In summary, here are the preferred order of image capture:

1) Flatbed scanner with high res scanned image properly rotated if needed and then cropped
2) Photo of deck using PhotoScan app (preferred for uncuts)
3) Carefully captured image using phone/camera which is then properly corrected for color/skew/rotate/crop
4) Cropped image from producer/artist/KickStarter (for 'copyright' reasons try to avoid using images from re-seller shops or blogs). Often times this is the only real solution for uncuts, other than this new PhotoScan option.


Finally, here's examples of results. Scanned, followed by PhotoScan, and then using phone without care for same plane.

SCANNED IMAGE:
Image

IMAGE CAPTURED USING PHOTOSCAN:
Image

SIMPLE PHONE CAMERA PHOTO (NOTICE THE SKEWED ANGLES)
Image


====================================================================
The attached images are probably just repeated below, they are duplicates of above, ignore.
Attachments
Scan.jpg
PhotoScan.jpg
Phone.jpg
User avatar
montecarlojoe
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 2529
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2013 7:10 am
Collector: Yes
Player: Yes
White Whale: Avant Guard UL Gr - No17 Crown
Decks Owned: 690
Location: Portsmouth, England
Has thanked: 253 times
Been thanked: 268 times
Contact:

Re: Get quality deck images with phone (no scanner)

Unread post by montecarlojoe »

That's super useful - my scanner is sooooo sloooowwwww!
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 21 guests