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in my studio- demonstration return to table of contents
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INTRIGUED BY THE NOTION of using a flat bed scanner as if it were a camera? I'll admit that so am I. After my many years of exploration as a "photoartist" I was delighted to stumble upon this amazing and unexpected process to capture my favorite garden and roadside specimens..
In 2000 I wanted to e-mail a few holiday cards to my friends at the last minute. I put my amaryllis, a poinsettia and a few leftover wreath greens on the glass of my flatbed scanner expecting that this 'document' couldn't possibly look like a recognizable image. I expected some representational blobs of gooey color...so maybe that will look kinda cool.... To say the least I was stupified by the result- especially the finely rendered macro-like detail. Previously I had used my scanner- just a cheap 80.00 one to scan 35mm photos. My casual experiments had inspired me so much that next spring I planted many "photogenic" annuals in my small backyard garden specifically as scanner subjects. I had fantastic results. I knew I was looking at something truly special...if only I could perfect the 'bouquets' I'd have a marketable product.
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Eastern Redcedar botanical illustration. Living objects can be weighted or taped in place to produce a very sharply focused rendering.
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UNFORTUNATELY I had inadvertently ruined all of my beautiful work when my poor little eight gig hard drive was whittled down to zero with the staggering amount of 40MB picture files I'd created. I had over-compressed all my .jpg files to make more room for new pictures, naively assuming I could just re-scale them up again! To make a long story short I had a very frustrating year of learning both technical and creative skills.
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Section of the scanned file for the Atlantic White Cedar.
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THERE ARE NO MANUALS devoted to scanning three-dimensional or live objects. I wasn't aware that there were any other artists exploring this crazy notion, though I thought there must be artists creating collage type arrangements or designs using a scanner instead of a color photo-copier.
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Black background- the result of scanning without the cover down.
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Above is a picture of my set-up using a large format scanner. For this demonstration I created a floral "jumble". These specimens were simply placed on the glass. More often than not flower petals have a habit of folding over. For me, crumpled petals are unacceptable. To prevent this I use a block of green floral clay as a base then pin each stem in a horizontally levered position above the glass. With some scanners any petal touching the glass will holler I'm hot! Also you have only one focus distance and that area is right on the glass. Flowers can also be propped, suspended, taped and even hand-held to create different effects. I use bamboo skewers to "reach" into the flower pile to make delicate adjustments. Some flowers are tough and can be man-handled and used for hours (like mums and most leaves) and others (like morning glories and petunias) are so delicate that they "melt" and stick to the glass after one exposure.
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An object captured using a scanner is a digitized image. It resembles a photograph- a photograph taken with a close-up "macro" lens and a scanner is kinda like a camera lens with a really big, wide-open lens aperature with a shallow depth of field. I'd judge the depth of field to be about an inch. Position the subject further away from the glass- and the scanning sensor and the image fades gently into oblivion. Not only is sharpness lost, but it disappears altogether especially with a dark red or purple flower. Objects touching the glass develop hot spots without detail, especially white or light objects. Dispite these limitations, fragile, delicate subject matter like flowers and leaves can be beautifully rendered. My gallery images captured prior to 2003 were created on a Visioneer scanner with completely useless photo-editing tools, so I was motivated to learn PS at warp speed!
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"Autumn Explosion" is a very finely detailed rendering. The silvery seed "parachute" can become transparent. This image is more difficult to print than it was to scan. When scanning think ahead to your printing process. If the fluff is too close to the glass it becomes a big glowing hot spot. Too far away and it's invisible. As it was, the unavoidable hot spots had to have the detail sampled from a better area and "cloned" in. To avoid or reduce hot spots you can do one of two things: adjust the height of the object from the glass (moving it further above) or use scanner "highlight" exposure adjustments (reduce the highlight exposure). Some scanner dialogs (meaning the adjustment levels) can make your objects look worse! Much worse, in fact you'd even wonder why the adjustments are even available. In that case stick to the "auto" or "default" settings.
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There is one major nuisance you must deal with when scanning three dimensional objects: dust gremlins. Initially you must clean the glass throughly. An optical wipe is one method. Use spray cleaners only for dried nectar and difficult messes. Avoid paper towels- they deposit more lint on the glass! Spray cleaners or liquids can seep under the glass and damage your scanner. With live flowers- pollen, nectar, dew and creatures may all be deposited on the glass! While prevention is the best solution, use of your "clone" tool in Photoshop is an essential step. Hint: If your scanner has a manual "focus" adjustment set the focus area above the glass so that the defects are less sharply focused that the flower or subject. Regarding my Epson... I routinely set the focus area as 1.5 rather than 0.0 which is the default. Having to clean up artifacts in Photoshop can be labor intensive. With a snapshot size print not much is visible, but larger prints require detail work. Be certain to view your image at actual pixel level-or 200%. The more you magnify, the more artifacts become visible! "Automatic" actions to remove these pests can blur the focal point (your subject) as it blurs the dust.
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