digital camera or scanner

[Derek Jones]

I noticed that one of the posts commented about digital cameras for photographing work - what do you all think , I scan my drawings and stitch them and find the quality fine - but my large acrylics I use a digital camera ( not a bad one ) but find the quality below par .... I suspect you need a camera with a serious amount of pixels to get an flat image like a painting with with some life and intensity -
I use my camera to record model's poses if I run out of time when drawing and the quality is good , but photographing acrylics etc - no no no.
Anyone out there with thoughts on this - I have some acrylics I would like to post but the quality is dead , I might just post one to show what I mean, cheers, Derek:crying:

[Nathangill]

Photographing drawings/paintings/prints/etc is pretty hard. There's a lot of things you have to keep in mind.

For one you've got to make sure light hits the piece evenly, to avoid pieces being too dark or light.

You've got to make sure the light is colourless, otherwise it'll tint your picture.

You've got to keep your camera directly above the middle of your picture, and it can't stray from 90 degrees very far, lest you get major distortion of the shape.

That's why trying to show my drawings on wetcanvas encouraged me to pull my scanner out of the closet. Hehe.

I was using a Sony Mavica before. $400+

The scanner is a MicroTek SlimScan. Came free with my old eMachines 250 Mhz computer three years ago.

Getting it right with a digital camera is a lot of fuss, and a scanner normally isn't any larger than 8' x 11' thus you have to patch the image together from scanned segments.
You've just got to weigh the evils. Or get both, and use whichever works best for each piece.

[PJL]

There have been lots and lots of posts on this subject... check out the computers and technology forum.. or look at the latest post on this subject in the watercolor forum here (http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17519)

[IlliniPoke]

If your using a digital camera to take a pic of a painting....my suggestion is to take it ouside.... Dont let the sun shine directly on it or you may get some odd glare though.

Here are two pics of the same painting...one inside, one outside
Both images were reduced by 50% so the detail isnt as strong as it was in the origonal photo's
(My dad's paintings BTW)

[IlliniPoke]

Now inside..

The lighting was decent inside, but you can still see the discoloration.

camera is Fugi2400 zoom

[Verdaccio]

Definately take your shots outside in daylight - direct sun can either work great if your piece is matt, or not so great if it has any surface sheen.

I have an Olympus C3040Zoom - I love it. 3.34MP, 3X optical zoom with an optical lens. $560 on-line.