Best way to scan sketches WoB

[PeterHA]

Hi All,
What is the best way to scan white on black sketches?
What types of scanners, what settings to use, what post processing.
I have done sketches for years but never scanned any.
Now I want to scan my sketches.
I have an HP Office Pro 8500 inkjet, fax, scanner which I could use.
Thanks for any tips.

[mental4astro]

Hi Peter,

I would not suggest scanning. Scanning will produce too much glare off the page, which is too harsh for the soft details. It is important to be able to control the angle of incidence of light on to the page and then back into the machine that is taking the image.

I control the lighting by taking photographs of my work. This way I can control the way light comes onto the page, control ambient light, and concentrate the camera on the image, the whole page not 100% filled with the illustration.

The camera I have is between a snappy-happy and a DSLR. It has a manual setting that allows me to control the aperture and exposure. I fix the aperture and take between 8 and 10 photos each on a different aperture. All I do then is select the image that I feel best does the sketch justice. I don't have a predetermined aperture as each sketch is different and requires different settings. Also, different apertures reveal or dampen subtle features, which is then important to determine for yourself what is best.

I don't do any type of digital manipulation. No Photoshop, no Paint, nothing. Just photography.

My set up is not elaborate. I don't have a studio set up. I just control the lighting in the room with black paper to shade the piece being photographed.

Don't forget that using a digital camera is not any different than manipulating a scanned image. The difference is you have total control over the image, with a scan you don't. Sure, you have programs to change things, but if the information isn't there in the original image, everything else is just catch up.

I know that this is not what you have asked about. But I feel it is important that other methods be suggested and explored if the one that's proposed has significant shortcomings that other methods can overcome.

Cheers,

Alex.

[PeterHA]

Hi Alexander,

Well that is a good idea and it fixes a lot of scanning related issues.
I have a Fuji X-10 and a EOS 7D and will try these.
I reckon the Fuji set to B&W and 8 MPix will do the trick.
Thanks for that.

[ZeroID]

Don't knock the scanning option too much. The illumination strip in scanners\faxes etc is actually offset to one side just to avoid that glare issue. It's more a matter of selecting a suitable resolution that captures the most detail without creating a huge file size.

Photography will obviously do the same or similar job but even there you have to be careful about reflections and lighting as Alex says. If you want to get serious photographically then you'll need a tripod and some oblique soft lighting system.

[Rob_K]

I tend to agree with Alex here. I was given a sketch pad with grey textured paper. Sketches look fine to the eye but scanning emphasises the texture, to a point where the sketch is practically useless. However a photograph pretty much captures the eye view of the sketch. Of course the best solution is not to use textured paper! ;) :lol:

Cheers -

[mental4astro]

Or! you change your technique to one that overcomes the problem of texture! ;)

Sketching DSO's with the Mellish Technique (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-614-0-0-1-0.html) :D