Mar/Apr '21 Lite Challenge: The village of Spring and the curse of winter

[Kisachik the Wanderer]

I see, so it's the scanner that just adds unwanted marks. Scanners do a really bad job compared to cameras, but they're easier to use. With cameras you have to make sure you have good lighting and that your camera is still. I usually set a timer, because when you press a button, even on your phone, you will likely shake the camera just enough to make the image blurry, even with high shutter speed. And then in post processing you have to correct the lens distortion. But I think although there's more preparation, with beautiful artwork it's worth it to get all the detail and colours right. You just have to set it up correctly.

[wminish]

This looks absolutely amazing! I have to agree with TimetoDraw, your work does improve every time and this style is a specialty.
I have to agree that scanning is much better than photographing even though the colors are a bit paler than the hard copy. In what program do you do those alterations afterwards? I always spend ages trying to get the scanner just right so that the fading is as little as possible but a filter might make that process a tad quicker and the result far better.

Hi Arimel, I've gone through several different programs for my post processing. For basic alterations (rotating, cropping, changing saturation and contrast) I just use the Photos application which is built into windows 10. For more complex alterations (filters, transparent backgrounds, changing the spelling of a word one time) I used to use paint.net but recently I've started giving Gimp a go. The piece in particular was post processed in Photos and Gimp.

I see, so it's the scanner that just adds unwanted marks. Scanners do a really bad job compared to cameras, but they're easier to use. With cameras you have to make sure you have good lighting and that your camera is still. I usually set a timer, because when you press a button, even on your phone, you will likely shake the camera just enough to make the image blurry, even with high shutter speed. And then in post processing you have to correct the lens distortion. But I think although there's more preparation, with beautiful artwork it's worth it to get all the detail and colours right. You just have to set it up correctly.

Hi Kisachik, I've tried photography a few times in the past and I'll definitely give it a go again. To get good results I think I will need to get some better equipment though, which I can't afford at the moment. Do you know of any good guides on photographic digitization? I've had a bit of a look around but haven't found anything particularly good to date.

[Kisachik the Wanderer]

Hi again!

You probably don't need any new equipment, it's quite possible you have a really good camera in your smartphone; an inexpensive dslr would also be suitable. All other stuff like lighting, tripod, remote for camera are optional, because with a bit of creative thinking you can find ways to work without them. I don't know any guides, because I have learned these skills very long ago from reading my camera manual, books on photography, and experimenting with the camera and software.

I could give you some tips but it depends on what you have available, let me know.