Dean Eppen Photography

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”            Jack London

To read Scanography, Part 1, click here

After experimenting with the techniques that I discussed in the previous post about scanography, I was curious as to just how close-up one can go when using a flatbed scanner as a camera or, in other words, how extreme can one go in the field of macro photography by practicing this craft.  I’ll share with you the results of some more of my experiments.

In the top two photos, I scanned a quarter and the navel of an orange.  In the two images below, I scanned a leaf of catnip.  In the first image below,  the full leaf was scanned and in the second, just a portion in order to get a better close-up.  All the pictures were optimized in the computer, as discussed in Part 1, and the output size in the scanner software was set so that the shorter dimension would yield a print size of approximately 8” without having to resize in Photoshop.  I thought the results on all these images were pleasing.

Now I was curious as to just how close-up I could go scanning progressively smaller areas and therefore increasing the output magnification in the scanner software.  The next series of images is of a chess piece queen.  The subject is about 3 1/4 inches high.  Progressively smaller areas were scanned until I was focused in on just the subject’s right eye.  All of these images are the raw scans – no computer optimization was done.  For the last two shots the scanner software was maxed out at a 3200% increase from the scanned area to the output size.  The area scanned in the last shot was only .17 x .17 inches.  It was very difficult at this point to manipulate the tiny box that would set the scanning perimeters.  A close up examination of the last shot will show that it is losing some sharpness and some digital artifacts are showing, but considering the miniscule area scanned and the degree of magnification, I think the results are still pretty good.  Again, these scans were made with an outdated, medium quality Epson Perfection 1200 Photo Scanner, so a top of the line scanner is not really necessary to get good results in the field of scanography.

The bottom line is that a scanner is a viable tool to do even fairly extreme macro photography, depending, of course, on the subject.  I will revisit scanography in a future post when I have new results to share.  If you have any questions on the techniques that I used, don’t hesitate to drop me an email.

 One final warning – scanography is addictive.  You may find yourself looking all over the house for subjects to scan.

 Okay…one final image.  For the picture below I scanned a small section of a sea urchin shell.

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“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”   Pablo Picasso

Most of you probably have a flatbed scanner connected to your computer. It’s used mostly for scanning documents and photographs. But did you realize that it can also be a useful tool in the creative process and that it can be used as a high quality digital camera for scanning objects? Many photographers and artists are using an ordinary flatbed scanner for doing macro or close-up photography of a wide range of subjects. The process goes by various names such as ’scanner photography’, ‘no-camera photography’, ’scanner art’ and ’scanography’. Not only does it yield good results, but it can be quite fun and can really spark the creative inspirations. I’ll share with you some of the results of my experimentation in this medium.

First of all, it isn’t necessary to have a top of the line, expensive scanner to do this. Almost any flatbed scanner will do. I used an old, out of date Epson Perfection 1200 Photo scanner for all the images shown here.

Different people use different techniques for scanning objects. I will only share what I have found works best for me after a lot of trial and error. Almost any object that can be put on the scanner will work.  Make sure that when you place the objects on the scanner glass that it is done carefully so as not to scratch the surface. Something clear, such as a sheet of acetate, can be put on the scanner glass to protect it. I leave the scanner lid open and place a shoebox lined with black construction paper over the object. Some artists drape cloth and other things of various colors and textures for different backgrounds. I prefer to change the background in the computer. The point is to block extraneous light from degrading the image. I always scan at 300 dpi which is the optimum resolution for printing. I usually set the output size so it will roughly make an 8.5 x 11 print without resizing.  The dimensions, of course, will vary depending on the proportions of the scan area that is selected.

As with photos taken with a digital camera, images that are scanned usually need some optimization after being brought into the computer. I use Photoshop as my photo editing software, but others will work just as well. I usually find that the contrast needs to be increased as the raw scans tend to look a little flat. Most of the time, the color balance also needs to be tweaked. These are personal preferences, of course, and everyone will make adjustments according to the look that they are trying to achieve.

Using the above method, I now have the subject isolated on a black background as in the examples above.  This makes it easy to extract the subject in Photoshop and put it on any background that I choose, as in the examples below where I changed the background color to blue.

The possibilities are endless.  Different objects can be assembled into a collage or other pleasing artistic arrangements on any background.

The objects also don’t necesarily have to sit directly on the scanner glass.  For more delicate subjects such as flowers, the objects can be suspended just above the surface.  For the picture of the dried straw flower below, I suspended it inside the black lined shoe box using a wire and small clamp so it was just above, but not quite touching, the scanner glass.  When spring arrives, I hope to do more scanning with fresh wild flowers.

If scanography interests you can get more information by following this link to a site called Scanner Magic.  Make sure you check out the section entitled “Scanner Artists” to see some of the amazing things others are doing in this medium.  I’m sure you’ll find it inspirational.  In my next post, I’m going to share some examples of going even closer up into scanned objects.

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