[Zig]

I saw some excellent new photos at Lacock Abbey(Fox-Talbot Museum place) yesterday.
Several of the exhibited photos were of objects such as fungi/bonsai trees...taken with a scanner. The scanners used were not "high-end", yet IQ even in 24-inch prints was often on a par with others taken with DSLRs.
I don't know if this is a little creative fad along the lines of using Holgas, painting materials with photosensitive chemicals, and the like...have any of you come across this in clubs or generally...or even experimented yourselves?

As an aside, what also struck me generally, was that even at 24+-inches there was absolutely no difference in quality in images taken with APS-C kit + decent mid-range zooms and full-framers + primes. A Canon 20D image with an L-zoom was easily in the same league as many a full-frame shot taken with a prime. The only exceptions were a couple taken with Mamiya digital medium-format...yet these were so icily sharp that they lacked a certain warmth, I have to say.

[EnglishBob]

We had a couple of people demonstrate this at our camera club 3-4 years ago, a few people have tried it since.... the primary difference between using a low end scanner and a high end one... Depth of Field, the $500+ scanners have a much greater depth of field.

One of our members did some great work with abalone and nautilus shells plus different colored sands etc. Others used cash, watches etc... some really cool stuff. But like most things, the fad rolled on and the images disappeared from competition.

[nia]

Dear Zig, this was interesting for me, and I searched a little bit,

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-v...itions.htm

Is this one that you talk about the exhibition, by the way, I am impressed so much, especially this lady, Jesseca ferguson!

http://www.museumofmemory.com/pages/photoobjects/2.html

Anyway, I would like to hear more about these new photos and also I am searching now what is this scanner photo? Seems that there is scanner art photo too!!! What means "a technique of taking your photo using a scanner instead of a camera".... but I am still searching It is so new for me...

Thank you dear Zig,
with my love,
nia

[matthew]

I'll occasionally use a scanner for product photos for my review blog. Scanners are essentially giant macro lenses, and can capture monstrous detail. If I scan something at a modest 2400dpi, and then reduce it 4:1 for better apparent sharpness (to 1200dpi), and then print the results at 300dpi, I'm still producing something four times bigger than life-sized in linear dimension. A 24" print, depending on the subject matter, should be no problem at all.

As Craig said, depth of field is the thing – and the other challenge is illumination. Since the CCD and lamp are so close to the focusing distance, light falls off very quickly on any subject with depth.


(fabric softener review)

Another problem is that the moving sensor records depth and perspective subtly differently than a typical camera, and the light moves with the lens. Combined with the extreme falloff, this can make 3D objects look just a little wrong. Reflective surfaces are also a challenge, especially if they're curved.


(knife review)

Another issue is that the item to be photographed is composed face-down. That's not a problem for something simple, but arranging a lot of elements into position can be a challenge. The good news is that this is digital photography, so there's no penalty (beyond computer time and storage space) of taking the image and adjusting the composition as many times as it takes.


(subway station buttons)

Finally, there's nothing you can do with a scanner to change the lighting. Something reflective will blow out, and the only way to adjust the position of the highlights is to change the orientation of the item on the scanner bed. The knives above were photographed/imaged/copied with the points facing 'up', so that they got scanned first, while the subway buttons and the film below was positioned facing 'down', which puts the highlights at the top of the reflective bits.


(portra 400 film)

All of these were done with my fairly basic Canon 9000F flatbed, and processed in Lightroom. The black background comes from leaving the scanner lid open; I've darkened it, adjusted the tones, and done a lot of dust spotting to get these images ready. While it's not something I use a lot, it's very useful for quick images, especially when it's just for fun.

More thoughts on the photographic gear tomorrow, when I can type a bit more coherently.

[EnglishBob]

One thing you can do is spray the inside of a box white, then use it to cover the scanner and the items on it, will give a lighter background but is still far enough away from the glass to be out of the field of focus. I found that worked better than draping with a white cloth.

[nia]

Dear Matthew, these are amazing, I found it so interesting this scanner photo, thank you for all these informations and photos, I loved especially the knife and subway station buttons. I wonder, can we play on photoshop too with this scanner photos? When I searched about this scanner photo, I noticed that there was a category about it, like scanner art photo! This seemed to me amazing... To be honest, I didn't know it before, how endless, photography! Thank you once again to dear Zig and Thank you for you too, dear Matthew

with my love,
nia

[Zig]

Well, thank you so much all , for that response, absolutely stonking. Ah yes, I clearly understand now...essentially macro with a flash set at "wide aperture" when the lid is off....
.....AH....I now completely understand the use they get at office parties......
Seriously, many thanks indeed for your feedback on this. My, I lead a life too sheltered...!

[NT73]

Something I did not know before. Now how do I get my guitar onto the A4 bed? :/

[matthew]

Now how do I get my guitar onto the A4 bed? :/

"One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces!"

[NT73]

Now how do I get my guitar onto the A4 bed? :/

"One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces!"