|
|
|
||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Q&A
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
What exactly is "scanography"?
What's so different about these images?
Where did you learn how to do this?
Can I scan my own garden flowers?
What kind of other objects can be scanned?
Can I scan myself or my pets?
Are there any books on scanning three-dimensiona
l objects? Do I have to learn Photoshop to make pictures like yours?
How many scanographers are there?
Can you scan plants outdoors with a laptop?
You have a lot of high-end, state-of-the-art computer hardware and software don't you?
Which artists influenced you?
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
"Scanography" is a twist on the term "photography" which means "painting with light". Because I use my scanners as if they are a camera (both artistically and technically) I prefer it to the more commonly Googled term "scanner photography". I photograph objects using a flatbed scanner, meaning I record the objects "digitally" using pixel generated colors. This is refered to as "bitmapping". This records my "digital negative". It's not physical like a film negative, but it reproduces an image recorded in millions of colors. No one in particular "invented" scanner photography, it is more or less a step away from "Xerox Art" of the 70s and 80s, a crude medium by comparison.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
A scanned object doesn't appear particularly "different" from traditional photography, at least on first glance- but the image is created at 100% life-size, while a camera image is just a fraction of life-size. There is something magical and sensual about a "macro" image of a flower. Scanned live specimens appear astoundingly alive and vibrant and the velvety black background (achieved because the image is created with the top of the scanner off) serves to heighten the effect. (To close the lid would mercilessly crush the specimens! And an ordinary white background would make the composition look just like any other photo of a specimen on a light box.)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Nobody taught me. I just got the idea in my head one day. I was in a rush to make some holiday cards back in 2001. I had to e-mail the cards because it was way too late to snail mail them. I had some leftover greens from a wreath and a poinsettia. I put them on the platen of my cheap Visioneer office scanner thinking I would get some sort of interesting "representational" image. But what I got was so much more. The next spring I grew a lot of annuals I thought would make good subject matter. Unfortunately, most of my first and second seasons were ruined when I ran out of space on my tiny harddrive and compressed the Dickens out of them to gain more space on my hard drive! Needless to say, I had no idea that re-scaling them up again could not be done.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Yes, and this is very simple when you have a good "photo" scanner. I recommend any Epson Photo Scanner. Even the least expensive model will give you a shockingly delightful rendering. Sophisticated digital darkroom software is an option for weekend crafters and gardeners, however it is an absolute necessity to achieve clean results for the graphic artist. Start by scanning light and bright colored flowers or greens.You can buy flowers or fruit and vegetables or pick them from your garden or meadow. This can be a fascinating project for gardeners, artists, illustrators and even kids. Demonstration.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Any object that isn't reflective can be scanned. Over-size objects can be scanned in sections. The sections can be stitched together using the multiple image "panoramic" combination in your editing software program. You can scan objects individually then combine them to make a digital collage.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Yes you can. Hands make a particularly interesting image. There are several scanographers who scan parts of models' anatomy, a fellow in England who scans "portraits" of his family members and even his cat. There is another English fella who built a type of giant box camera using a scanner and another enterprising artist who scans landscapes with a three pass scanner.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Unfortunately, there are no books on this subject. There have been a few magazine articles published and a handful of mentions of scanning three dimensional objects in books on the related digital arts. Lucky you if you have discovered how-to articles on the Internet!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Is that a trick question? Yes you do, but on the other hand the Epson photo scanners have most of the value and color modifications that you need to tinker with to record an accurate image. There might still be goofs, irregularities and blobs of stuff to clean up using retouching tools in the digital darkroom. It's helpful to have an "artistic" eye to assemble an aesthetically pleasing composition. You can make as many preview scans until you get everything "just right". I didn't have any image editor when I did my early work. I spent hours blowing pollen and dirt off the glass- something that can be more easily done with retouching tools!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
There are only a hundred or so "fine art" photographers exploring this medium and a lot of them have a more impressive body of work than I. It has become an unusually exciting emerging medium. For a complete list of known photoartists visit: http://www.hometown.aol.com/brgworkshop/1.html
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Great idea! For years I stupidly assumed that this would be difficult, but after doing and outdoor demo at an Audubon Center event I realized that a sunny day is produces a bright turquoise background and a cloudy day produces a light gray or white background. The sun creates strong backlighting, so delicate petals and leaves appear translucent. Sorry I bought that 500.00 scanner, because the transparency scanning illumination is tricky- the sun does a lot better job. Scanning: "Plein Airs"
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Gosh, wish I did! Alas, I'm still using my old, slow processors and I only recently upgraded from Windows 98! My large-format scanner is so old that it requires a SCSI connection. I do have a dozen external storage drives because some of the image files I create start at 300 MB and more. I do purchase a lot of cool image-editing software and fancy fonts. It takes more in ingenuity than equipment to produce digital artwork of any merit. If I had it to do over, I'd say good riddance to Microsoft and switch.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I thought about scanning flowers for a long time before I actually got around to doing it. I wanted to reproduce a Georgia O'Keeffe-esque painting of an orchid on a wall as a mural. I took 35mm pictures of my orchid and scanned those hoping to create a tiled underpainting, but I wasn't very successful. If I could paint like Georgia O'Keeffe I wouldn't even bother taking pictures! It's so much easier to paint or draw from scratch, "from my head" than "copy" or interpret a photo. I admire many artists, realistic to representational. I am not an art snob and creating parody art has been a real amusement to me.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This is an illustration of scanning "Berry-Go-Round". I might have to use a variety of "props" and tools to get the composition exactly the way I want it. Some scanographers prefer to work in a dim or dark room. I don't. I spent years and years in a tiny, smelly "darkroom" for hours on end and I ain't goin' back no way!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| page created with Easy Designer |