Scanning
Some guidelines
All artwork must be flat in order that it may be correctly scanned. Original artwork should be scanned where possible. This will improve the quality of the final print.
Always think about the format of the final print and capture the picture with as high a resolution (see below) as the scanner/computer will allow.
Should your piece of artwork be too big to fit on your scanner, you do have other options available.
a) You can take your artwork to a print bureau or photographic lab who will be able to scan your artwork for you.
b) If your image is textural or sculptural you would be advised to get this photographed professionally and supplied to you on tranparency, or alternatively get it scanned by a scanback (see below).
The scanner
The Flatbed scanner – scans from original artwork or photograph. Can come with a transparency adapter capable of scanning slides or negatives up to 5 x 4 inches.
Film Scanner – for scanning from film or transparencies only.
Professional – a flatbed scanner that will scan up to A3 in size from original artwork. Able to scan transparencies and capable of high resolutions.
Drum Scanner – Strictly professional – capable of extremely high quality results, highly skilled operation. Not suitable for some original artwork as this may be damaged.
Digital Camera – the image is captured into a digital file and there is no intermediate processing stage in–between. The image can be downloaded straight onto the computer.
Scanback – All the advantages of a digital camera, but this is professional quality digital capture. It is a digital back that fits into large format camera, it scans directly onto a computer interface. For this a Photographic studio is required.
Image resolution
It is important to understand the basic principle of resolution. The higher the resolution of a scanned image the more information is held and the greater the quality of the final print. Resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi). The 'dots' refer to the pixels that make up the image, for example a resolution of 150 dpi means that in each inch of the image there are 22500 pixels.
Some basic rules of scanning
There are a number of rules, which if followed, will give you high enough quality results to print successfully:
a) If you want a print to be the same size – scan at 300 dpi (e.g. if your original is A4 and you scan it and print on an A4 sheet = 300dpi)
b)To print to twice the size (e.g. A3) – scan at 600 dpi –doubling the scanning resolution in relation to the size of the original image.
c) This also applies to computer generated artwork, so make sure the original document size when you go to create new work is at least 300dpi.
d) Remember, no matter how good the computer or printer, if the image hasn't been scanned in at a big enough resolution the picture will always appear pixelated.
e) If scanning from 35mm or 5 x 4 inch transparencies, you will be substantially increasing the image size, so remember to set the scanning resolution accordingly.