How to Get Rid of Moire in a Scanner

Scanners capture images by detecting light reflected off of the source image.

Scanners create digital images from photographs, printed text and a variety of other sources. Unfortunately, images that are printed using a screen printing process such as what is found in magazine and newspaper publishing often contain a pattern known as moire when scanned. This pattern is caused by the scanner's light amplifying and capturing the screen pattern that is largely invisible in the printed material. Fortunately, many scanners include filter applications designed to remove the moire from images as they are scanned.

Things You'll Need

• Picture or page to be scanned

Instructions

1. Place the page or image you wish to scan on the bed of your scanner. Make sure it is lying flat on the bed and is oriented properly according to the instructions in the user's manual for your specific scanner model.

2. Launch the scanning software that installed with the drivers for your scanner. Set up the scanning software as you normally would, selecting the program you want the scanned image to load in and making any other settings adjustments based on your own preferences.

3. Select the "Advanced Options," "Filters" or similar option in your scanning software to access the nonstandard scanning options for your scanner. Locate a filter named "Descreen" or an option for scanning magazine and newspaper images, then select it. Depending on your software you may be required to select the type of paper the image is printed on and other descreening-specific options.

4. Set the image resolution to 300 DPI for a higher-quality scan or to 150 DPI for a faster scan. Depending on your scanning software, this option may be set automatically based on your descreening settings.

5. Preview and scan your image as you normally would according to the user's manual for your scanner. The descreening filter is automatic; the final scanned image will appear with the moire removed.

Tips & Warnings

• If your scanner's capture software does not feature a descreening filter, scan the image at the highest possible resolution for your scanner. Once scanning is complete, reduce the image to the size you would normally scan. The moire will be compressed by the size reduction and will disappear from the image.

References

• Scan Tips: Scanning Images in Books/Magazines/Newspapers
• Scan Tips: Descreen
• Scan Tips: Manual Descreen Methods