I have been scanning my old photos and using the "seperate scanned photos" app in PSE5. Some times it does a great job but more then 1/2 the time it does not see the division area between photos. I seperate the photos by 1/8 - 1/4 inch, big blue skies usually are seperated from the photo as a narrow strip. Are there any tricks or rules to make it work ?

The scanning software is likely looking for a straight edge with high contrast to mark the separations between images. If your sky is not much different in contrast between the white background on the upper lid of the scanner cover, it likely has a problem in edge location. Try laying a dark-colored piece of paper over your images before closing the scanner lid to see if that helps.
Vicki

Hi
Try a wider separation

Surprisingly, separation seems to work better when the various images are a bit crooked in relation to each other.

Rusty

Surprisingly, separation seems to work better when the various images are a bit crooked in relation to each other.

Rusty

I agree w/Rusty, for me it works better when I don't have the tops of the photos aligned straight. When I place the 2nd photo on the screen I will drop down just a bit to offcenter.

Thanks everyone. Crooked edges and black paper did the trick