Hi guys,

When I tried to post my first drawing I scanned it but the reflection from the graphite caused almost a whiteout!
Now I take photos of my drawings and post those, but someone said you lose the detail when you photograph them.

What does everyone else do to get around the reflection issue or do you have any suggestions to improve the quality of the digital photos?

Andrea

Hey there Andrea,
If mine are small enough, I will scan them, and I have yet to have any issues with flashback...here is the link for one of my images that I scanned... http://www.drawspace.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2450

I find that it is difficult to get a good 'spot on' shot with a DC, the results always turn out a little bit skewed...However now that I have a tripod they are getting better...Also with graphite, its very important to have natural light, cause unless its a diffused flash from the DC, you will get bad flashback as well...

Hope that helps...

I don't understand why you don't get the line of whiteout too on your scans.
Perhaps my scanner is of a poorer quality or perhaps I am too heavy handed with my B pencils
Yes, I have also noticed that I often get a bluish tinge on my photos if I take them inside rather than in natural light.
Your horse eye drawing was absolutely beautiful, by the way

Andrea

I'm not sure what you are getting with your white outs. When I scan I get a pale blue scan. But I take it and gray scale it in Paint Shop Pro and then add contrast to get it near my original drawing. Usually it has more contrast than the original.

When I photograph a painting I take it on the shady side of a building on a bright sunny day. The bright but diffused light makes a fair photo without the glare of the flash from the camera. I also use a tripod for my camera and an easel for the picture. You have to be pointing directly at the picture. If it is slanting at the slightest angle you will not get good results.

Have you tried adjusting the contrast on your scanner settings? I have to leave mine on Default. It's even worse if I try to adjust the settings.

bob

Yeah, I don't get that problem on my scanner. I recently got my scanner so that is why most of the pictures in my gallery are digital and they seem distant, dark, and loss of detail.

But my scanner is pretty nice. Its an Epson printer, copier, and scanner. Normally my parents wouldn't buy such an expensive printer but my brother go it for free. So, I am just lucky.

I don't have too many problems scanning graphite Andrea. Usually my scans turn out a little pale but with a little adjustment of the levels (generally the mid-tones) they work pretty well.

I have a much harder time scanning colour drawings. My scanner simply distorts the colour almost beyong recognition and no amount of fiddling with it will get it to look right. For colour I take pictures, but as Paul said it's hard to get them straight and not skewed with a digital camera.

It takes a lot of patience and trial and error I guess.... a bit of luck does no harm either!

Thank for your advice guys. It was quite a cheap scanner/printer that we bought whilst we are waiting for ours to arrive in our container from the UK. I'm in the middle of another figure drawing so I'll try scanning that and let you know how I go. I'll play with the settings if need be.
Wish me luck!
Andrea