A method of correcting illumination variation in a scanned image of a non-planar original object, such as an open book, includes scanning at least a portion of the book in order to produce scanned image data. Illumination variation data is extracted from the scanned image data and used to derive a plurality of illumination compensation values. The scanned image data is then compensated or scaled in accordance with the illumination compensation values. Illumination data is acquired through a sampling window having a long and thin geometry. From the data acquired via the sampling window, foreground and background illumination distributions are defined. From the foreground and background illuminations, high and low threshold values are determined in order to calculate a set of reference or compensation values. A tone reproduction curve is generated in order to map the scanned data, thus normalizing the illumination variation. Alternately, an illumination gain factor is employed in the compensation.