Dash of Inspiration – December 5, 2011
A Dash of Inspiration, A Cup of Creativity by Doreen
Scanning Tips
There have been some discussions on the forum centered around scanning so I wanted to offer some good tips and inspire you to learn more about this process that some even call more of an art than a process. I’ve certainly found scanning photography, film and watercolors to be a more in-depth process than one might think to achieve a high-quality scan.
Your first step is to choose a scanner that is right for your needs. Photographers who have old negatives and transparencies will require a scanner dedicated to film and photography. Artists who are scanning their small works will need a scanner capable of handling their size requirements in addition to high-quality capture if you work in smaller sizes. For those who work in large format you can find services that use large commercial grade scanners or those which provide studio quality digital capture to transfer larger works of art into a digital format suitable for selling on POD’s and/or as fine art prints.
It’s more important to learn how to use your scanner well than to purchase the latest, greatest model.
Five fab photo scanners compared by CNET
(c) Ginette Callaway
Scanning Fine Art
A mistake often made is the assumption that scanning art for selling online in print form is different than scanning fine art for giclee reproduction. Anything which sells online, such as our greeting cards, are reproductions of our artwork and therefore the transfer to digital format needs to be done with the same quality and attention to detail that you would in preparing the capture for a limited edition print. This article might help you understand the need for a high quality scan of your artwork.
What Are the Best Scanners for Drawings & Watercolor Art?
Turn Paint into Pixels by Dani Jones
How to Scan Artwork From Artists Resources Wiki
Tutorial: Scanning Drawings to Color in Photoshop
Scanning Software, Tips and Help
And remember . . . as with anything worth doing, when it comes to scanning artwork, photographs, and film – garbage in, garbage out – in other words, if there is dust and scratches on your film, they will be there when you scan. If your photograph is out of focus, so will your scan.
GCU Community 
Thank you again for another wonderfully instructive article!
You are welcome Mariana!
Thank you Doreen!
Your dedication to providing us with lots of inspiration, different tools and a reminder to keep on learning is appreciated.
Hope this finds you well.
Best wishes always,
Sri
Perfect timing…I was looking around for a new scanner. Which are are you using.