# scanning/enhancing traditional art.



## shiftyfox (Mar 3, 2008)

I pretty much only draw in traditional because my photoshop/computer skills are at best limited.  Unfortunately this means I have to use a scanner to get my stuff on FA, which always seems to result in a dull picture.  Ive tried to  
mess around with the saturation and hue in photoeditor, but I still cant seem to get my computer pictures looking as good as the originals.  So I guess my question is what would you guys recommended to enhance my scanned pictures?


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## Stratelier (Mar 4, 2008)

Don't be dissing traditional art and scanners, yo.  You just have to learn how to get the most mileage out of them....

Your scanner has built-in exposure controls which can be accessed by the scanning utility.  Once it's made the initial prescan, look through your utility's menu options for anything related to "exposure", "brightness" or "contrast".

Once there, you should find three options:

1 - "Highlights".  Controls the intensity of whites and other light tones, but at the risk of washing out detail in light areas.
2 - "Shadows".  Controls the intensity of blacks and dark tones, but at the risk of washing out details in dark areas.  It can also have a dramatic effect on color saturation.
3 - "Midtones" (or "Gamma").  Controls the overall image contrast.  Scanners tend to preset this to the standard value of 2.2, but for many computer monitors these days 2.2 is too bright.  Reduce it to a value like 1.8 or 1.5 and it will really increase the contrast and color-saturation of an image.


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## shiftyfox (Mar 4, 2008)

ahh, thank you very much, gonna have to try that for sure.


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## Stratelier (Mar 5, 2008)

If I knew what kind of scanner (and what utility handles the scanning and settings) you have, I might be able to offer some specific tips, or at least look up some online tutorials.


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## shiftyfox (Mar 6, 2008)

Its a Canon pixma MP500 printer/scanner.

All I could find was the contrast adjuster, I think thats all its got.

Also, is there a way to make the actual paintings more scanner friendly?
(like using a certain type of paper or something?)


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## Stratelier (Mar 6, 2008)

If it's larger than the scanner bed, no, not really.  For drawings I like to stick a blank sheet of paper or cardstock underneath the sheet I'm scanning.  Sometimes it helps to place a book or something (slightly) heavy on top of everything, to press the paper flat against the scanner bed.  My scanner has raised edges surrounding the bed, so in my case it's essential to reduce 'curling' when I'm piecing together a large scan.

Found this on my searches:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=123&modelid=11995
http://www.downloadtube.com/Drivers/PRINTER/Canon-PIXMA-MP500-MP-Navigator-download.html

Hmm, what's the name of the utility that comes up when you try to scan a document?  Is it Navigator?  (Look at the title bar, or "Help > About").


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## greg-the-fox (Mar 6, 2008)

I hardly ever draw traditional anymore because of my lack of a scanner


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