> -----Original Message----- > From: Ian Skinner [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 5:25 PM > To: cf-community > Subject: Re: Flatbed scanner with at least 11"x17". > > Jim Davis wrote: > > If Kinko's/Fed Ex is out of the question what about a camera? If the > > material is photographic a decent digital camera (you can get 12MP > for less > > than 80$ nowadays), a tripod and good lighting should give you > "scans" > > usable just about anything short of print work. > > > > I used to do this with posters and, less meticulously, with > whiteboards. > > > > Jim Davis > > I had considered this, and I do need to replace my digital camera that > died a while ago. But the prime item I am considering is print > artwork. Drawings, sketches, pastel works done by my son. I did scan > some of his work a few years ago that could handle a trip through the 8 > 1/2 by 11 adf. What I like from the scans is that you get a sense of > the paper not just the image. > http://www.ilsweb.com/Family/Christopher/displayArt.cfm?piece=christoph > erArt/Vase > [Warning art work by 6 year old]. > > How hard do you think it would be to get the same affect with a photo? > I presume I would have to be fairly particular with lighting, camera > position, exposer, etc to get the same thing.
If you're happy with that scan then I think you might be happy with a Digicam photo. We picked up 12MP Kodak consumer-level cameras from Woot.com for the kids for xmas - $60 each. They're definitely consumer models, but 12MP is going to give you a huge image no matter what you do - you'll capture everything. The biggest problem is lighting (especially if the piece is glossy). Some very basic stuff: +) You don't want to use the camera's flash - it'll just glare. Instead use strong backlighting against a light background (a sheet will do in a pinch). +) For pieces like this a decent sized sheet of tag-board mounted on a wall, cardboard or wood (for stiffness - your piece should always be as flat as possible and held completely perpidicular to the camera) would be perfect. +) Don't hold nuthin'! Mount your pieces (an easel comes in handy) and your camera (tripod). Frame your shot then use the camera's "timer shot" to take the picture (many cameras offer a shot - one or two second - timer for just this purpose) - otherwise your hand on the shutter can cause blurring. +) Highly directional lighting (overhead or under, not both) helps greatly to bring out the texture of the medium (canvas or textured paper or whatever). To get that "paper" look you need to see the shadows of the texture - with a decent camera that should actually come out better than with a scanner (which are generally more flood-lit). +) Use lossless compression (TGA for example) until you finalize your image for something (the web, etc). The more compression runs that are made the more you'll lose. Try to always resize from the original - multiple resizes will often eliminate the richness of the textures and replace them with digital artifacts. +) Don't try to digitally fix things (color/hue/saturation/etc) too much - it's almost always better to correct your mistake and take another picture. Image editing can't fix a bad picture and a good picture shouldn't really need any editing. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:284009 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
