Need Expert Help…..Photoshop to slice pages in half Batch mode

I’ve searched everywhere for a solution to this, but in vain. Pls. Help…

I have taken digital images (color) of a few pages from a printed book. These are all double pages (2 facing pages in 1 shot). Pls. see the attached sample image. <http://www.box.net/shared/ay2rqjp317>

I want to use Photoshop (Elements 6 / CS 3 or above) to AUTOMATE the following :

1. Cut the single image (of two facing pages) into 2 single page images. (Also if you could suggest a way that picture be split (in batch mode) to NEARLY FIT the single page dimensions of the book).

2. Straighten the resulting single page image (to look NEARLY like a flat eBook – with text in ALMOST straight lines).

3. If at all possible, Remove imprint of fingers (seen bottom of the pic- finger holding pages flat- I’ve held the same place in all images).

4. Convert color image to black and white, to remove unnecessary details.

5. CREATE A BATCH process of all above steps, so it can be done for the 30 or so double pages I have, creating 60 single pages.

After step 5, I will run Omnipage to OCR text from all pages (This is simple, I can do it) and create a clean B&W book type PDF of 60 pages or so.

Its really important that I do the batch mode for all…this is beacuse in sucesssive projects, I need to digitize a few pretty old books.

At wikihow, I fdid find some useful info, but not for STEP 1 to 3, which are crucial. I’m reproducing that info here, if someone wants to incorporate that into approach they suggest for me.

Pls. Help…I’m just an amateur with Photoshop. Thanks a ton..

——————– Notes from WikiHow —————
4 # Create a processing action: Photoshop (any version) is a good software for processing, but other software may work just as well. To save file size and increase readability, you want to strip out as much extra color information as possible. You can automate this process: Start recording a new action. Then select Image>adjustments>threshold to convert to black and white – drag the cutoff slider to where it looks most readable. Save the images using File > Save for web and devices. Save in the gif format. You only need two colors, and you may safely crank up the lossy compression. Using this method you can compress six megapixel images down to under 200 kb, down from the roughly 2 mb original files.

5 # Create your pages. Now that you have created your action, open Photoshop and select file > automate > batch. Select the action you just made, as well as the original images you want to work on. Then select a destination and numbering scheme. Run the process and you should end up with a number of compressed GIFs. Review your images again. If any of your images were underexposed or out of focus, they will be illegible.