How to Get high quality image scans for flower pressing
I am a pressed flower artist and on this blog I will teach you everything I have learned so far about getting great digital copies of my artwork so I can sell digital prints in the largest of sizes without compromising on quality.
So let’s begin:
If you look at Etsy, there are so many professional pressed flower art sellers. Some have been around for over 10 years, some just getting started, but chances are that if you found them on Etsy through the search feature, they have already attained a level of success that you too want but don’t yet know how to get it. The one thing that is truly mesmerizing to you is how clear the pictures are taken.
Your average Etsy artwork is nothing short of fabulous!
You should be able to achieve this level of clarity with ease through this article.
If you are eager to jumpstart your journey to uploading your beautiful art to your own Etsy store, you will no-doubt run into question of how to best take photographs of your pieces. Questions will come up such as “What is the right tool to take pictures?”, “Do I need a fancy studio setup to take the pictures?”, “Is a DSLR camera needed?”, “What about a phone camera?”. If you already own a high-end phone like an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy ultra, you might even believe it’s easier to just take pics with the phone and upload it. Sure, there’s no harm in getting started with that. But easy route will eventually tire you out when you try to maintain consistency in pictures such as lighting, angle, background. If you have already tried the phone or are yet to try anything, then this article is perfect for you.
Beginner level
You are right to think that phones should do the job. And sure, 50% of the time, they’ll work every time. The piece will look vivid and attractive. You can even go outdoors, set up your frame against a beautiful tree and pebbles and take stunning pictures in the daylight. But soon you’ll notice that the weather isn’t always in your favour. The sun turned its back on you, or you were too lazy to go set up the artwork to take pics that by the time you muster the courage, it’s sunset already. Lastly, you’ll realize that soon you have so many pieces you made but buying a frame for each of them is expensive and you will then need to store the pieces as well, so you decide to buy a storage folder and put the flower press artwork individually in the frames, take your pics then change the art to new ones and re-take the pictures again, and again and again. Once more you can see you will get tired and burnt out soon from this repetition and so this option is only good at the beginner level when optimisation of the process is least of your concern. You just need to get your foot through the door first.
Intermediate Level
Now that you have tried and tested the beginner method, you would like to streamline your work and make it easier for yourself to upload perfectly lifelike images. You can even use tools to do mockups to show how your art will look in a room or in a different lighting condition.
For this, you need a scanner machine. They sell for around 70-80 GBP or USD. The most common and fan favorite is Canon Lide 400. Don’t buy the 300 version as it’s the older model. Although for every other use, it’s just as good as the new one.
This Canon Lide 400 scanner scan pages slightly larger than A4. Not because it wants to, but because it has to. USA & Canada use Letter size paper whereas rest of the world uses A4. Since A4 is taller but Letter is wider, the bed space of the scanner is always left slightly empty on one side when scanning anything. See the markings in the image above (LTR is letter).
What is dpi and what is the best for my artwork scans?
DPI (Dots per inch) is basically talking about the print resolution or simply, image detail. It refers to the number of ink dots a scanner (or even a printer) place within one inch of space (linear inch, not square inch). Higher DPI means greater detail and sharper images. When using the software to scan the image, you’ll see that by default, the images will have 300DPI (you can see this by right clicking the image in your computer and choosing properties. Then go to details tab and scroll down till you find Image resolution (See first image below).
So, the higher the DPI, the bigger the print you can get. 300DPI is good for Basic viewing on screens (e.g., website, social media), and 600 DPI is good for High-quality art prints (for sale, exhibitions). You can also zoom in more without the picture breaking up. Think of it as more DPI = more megapixels!!
You can even go up to 1200 DPI and that is for the ultimate fine art production. Like if you sell your original piece, you will want to keep a 1200 DPI (at least that’s what I think, but if it doesn’t open easily or is too slow to open on your computer, you can even keep it at 600) scan of your piece. At this resolution, you can even print your A4 piece on an A2 which is 4x the size of your original flower press artwork. The image at 1200 DPI will be approx. 143 megapixels. MASSIVE.
So how to increase the DPI in the setting?
Keep in mind that the details and images below are for the Canon Lide 400 scanner and so other scanners might have different settings. On the initial software box, clicking the settings takes you to the preferences page where you can increase the photo DPI to 600 but not further. To go higher, you must choose ScanGear and adjust the setting in the advanced mode. Even though the software says the image will be 400MB, in practice, my A4 art pieces with white background at 1200DPI have approx. 40MB file size in JPEG format (TIFF format is the best for storing artwork but I couldn’t find the option for it above 600DPI).
One thing to note with flatbed scanner like this one is that you have to apply pressure on the lid with your hand. Not too much but enough to make sure all parts of the flower art come in contact with the bed of the scanner. If you have some thick flowers in your piece that raise your paper from the scanner resulting in a few flat flowers not coming in contact with the scanning bed, then these flowers will be blurred. Make sure to zoom and inspect the scanned image before removing your pressed flower art from the scanner.
Advanced mode
Useful if you make pieces bigger than A4 as you will be hard pressed to scan it properly. I warn you I myself have not reached this point yet.
The way to level up to the ultimate scan is
To use an overhead scanner- They are good for when you want to showcase depth better (like a leaf bent over forward that would otherwise get squished in a flatbed scanner with a cover on top), but they don’t offer very high resolution.
Another option is to check local art supplier or reprographic business for who offers scanning services in your area. They have big industrial grade scanners and can scan your original.
You can also take your pieces to the local photography (or print) shop where they can photograph it for you, do color corrections, and send you a high-res file.
Finally, for super massive pieces, you will have to fall back on a high quality DSLR.