Best way to scan 11x14 prints?

[Larry Kellogg]

Hello,
I want to produce final prints on 11x14 fibre paper and then digitize them for the web. What is the best way to scan them? Any recommendations for scanners? I thought I would try to copy stand them but I read that someone could not get the light right no matter what they tried.

Regards,

Larry

[jbenedict]

1. If your 11x14 prints are from digital files, use PS or whatever to make them smaller for quick web downloads and to put a copyright on them to protect their use.

2. If you have a good scanner, scan them in two pieces and stitch them together.

3. If you have a copy stand and a digicamera, give it a try. LED desk lamps are pretty cheap and, for 11x14, I'd consider 4 of them.

4. Farm it out.

[Larry Kellogg]

1. If your 11x14 prints are from digital files, use PS or whatever to make them smaller for quick web downloads and to put a copyright on them to protect their use.

2. If you have a good scanner, scan them in two pieces and stitch them together.

3. If you have a copy stand and a digicamera, give it a try. LED desk lamps are pretty cheap and, for 11x14, I'd consider 4 of them.

4. Farm it out.

Sorry, I should have been clearer, my prints are made in the darkroom. I hate inkjet prints and think they pale in comparison to silver gelatin prints. There, I said it.

No, I will not scan the negatives, so that is not a possibility.

Are there any scanners that will do a good job of scanning 11x14 prints, without stitching.

Larry

[Light Guru]

Are there any scanners that will do a good job of scanning 11x14 prints, without stitching.

There are but they will be more expensive. There is the epson 11000xl which does 12x17 but it starts at $2500

A smaller scanner is going to be much cheeper. And photoshop will automatically stitch it together for you.

[Ashly85]

I should have been clearer, my prints are made in the darkroom. I hate inkjet prints and think they pale in comparison to silver gelatin prints. There, I said it.

[jbenedict]

Sorry, I should have been clearer, my prints are made in the darkroom. I hate inkjet prints and think they pale in comparison to silver gelatin prints. There, I said it.

No, I will not scan the negatives, so that is not a possibility.

Are there any scanners that will do a good job of scanning 11x14 prints, without stitching.

Larry

That's fine. You like what you like. However, since you are putting them on the web, what's the difference in scanning prints and scanning the negatives?

Here's a thread on the topic. The OP is looking to scan 11x14 drawings:

http://forum.deviantart.com/art/general/1874894/

If those suggestions don't pan out, I think you are down to #4. Farm it out.

[Larry Kellogg]

That's fine. You like what you like. However, since you are putting them on the web, what's the difference in scanning prints and scanning the negatives?

Here's a thread on the topic. The OP is looking to scan 11x14 drawings:

http://forum.deviantart.com/art/general/1874894/

If those suggestion don't pan out, I think you are down to #4. Farm it out.

I will spend a lot of time producing my final print in the darkroom, with dodging and burning, and then I would have to repeat all of those operations in Photoshop. After all that, the resulting image will not look exactly like the silver gelatin print. I have sold off all of my digital gear, and will not go back, except to somehow produce digital files for the web.

There is a copy stand kicking around the darkroom, perhaps I will adapt it for photographing my prints. Thanks for the advice, Lenny. I really don't want to buy another digital camera, though. Perhaps one of the cheap Mustek ScanExpress scanners will do a good enough job. I don't have desktop space for a huge A3 scanner. I know, I'll check if International Center of Photography in New York has one. They must. I'll use theirs. I don't usually venture to the digital dark side of the house. ;-)

[Lenny Eiger]

Larry, lots of people can get the light right. People photograph flat art all the time. Many people use copy stands. I was taught to do this by my dad when I was a kid. He used photofloods on light stands. They were plenty uneven. Instead of pointing the lights directly at the image, he pointed them across the image, almost towards each other, and used the "spill light" at the edges. To get things even, we held up a gray card and measured with a meter, moved the lights until the reading matched all around. Today we have much better lighting systems, but the long and short of it is that almost all of them work just fine. You can even get nice soft light outside, depending where you live.

This is entirely doable, with just a little care...

Good luck,

Lenny

[LF_rookie_to_be]

Do consider an A3 desktop scanner. Microtek 9800XL A3+ sized scanner works well for me. It was really cheap, but required a lot of cleaning of the entire optical path, as well as the filter right in front of the CCD to get rid of the dreaded streaks. Also, I had to shim the "legs" on which the top platen with the glass rests on slightly in order to get the proper sharpness. Resolution is barely 1200 dpi, and you should create your own profile to get at least close to the colours of the original, but it can produce nice scans. Works pretty fast through a Firewire port connected to an old Apple Powerbook.

[ROL]

Larry, I am with you entirely, in spirit and in deed. It is your decision on how you wish to present your work – and scanning a negative is a far cry from scanning a finished piece. Whether that difference is significant enough to be judged by the casual viewer of your digital presentations is another matter. The internet being the pre-eminent form of communication at this point in time, and within the foreseeable future, this is an important decision.

My smallest fine art prints are 11"x14" – going much, much larger. I only show scanned prints as a matter of principle to support darkroom work (appreciated or not), so I am in the same boat as you. After I complete an edition, the last thing I do before moving on to another negative is to make an 8x10 "fine art proof", which is as close to the other editions as humanly (me, anyway) possible, solely for the purpose of scanning on my E-4990. You are welcome to go to my site, where you can see examples of print scanning in every gallery. Be aware, and this is not generally known, that my practice of making fine art proofs is not complete, some of the representations were made before I adopted the practice, and are actual proofs made before an edition was ever begun. Sorry, I wasn't able to offer a more direct solution to the issue, but there it is, as I am best able to handle it. A scanner capable of handling 11"x14" would be much preferable – as would winning the lottery.