Scanning basics

- So here we go, let's talk about some scanning basics. And nothing to in-depth here, just some of the must know info and idea that'll get us all on the same page before we dive deeper. Okay, first things first, make sure your scanner's glass is real clean before you start working. I mean, after all, it's way easier to do this up front than it is to clean up your images in Photoshop later on, right? And if you're gonna get real crazy with like paints or liquids or inks on your scanner then yeah, do add some plastic wrap to the thing, like stretch it all over your scanner, the glass, the sides, the whole thing, and I'm gonna say that would be a super great idea. Now the plastic wrap itself, it's gonna add some visual texture to your images, but if you're already going crazy with paints and such then that really shouldn't matter too much. And next, as you move ahead and you start setting up a scene for scanning, do keep in mind which kind of scanner you're working with. If you're using like a deep depth of focus CCD scanner, like this Canon 9000, you're gonna be able to count on things being in focus way further from that glass than they'd be if you are using something like my shallow focus CAS scanner, my Epson scanner. And both kinds of machines, they can do really great things. But looking at this image, you can see how the Epson scan on the right, it focuses really close to the glass and the rest of the scene gets pretty blurry. And with the Canon image on the left, that one focuses way deeper. And I like both looks. In fact, I've found that pretty much every scanner has its own personality in how it sees things. And for me, the trick is to just accept that personality and to make the most of it, quirks and all. Okay, there are four main possibilities that you gotta keep in mind when you're setting up a scene for scanning. Number one, there are foreground items that usually sit right on the scanner's glass. Here I'm using clear things, so that in this case anyway my main subject won't be hidden by them. And yes, your main subject or subjects, that's number two in the possibilities to keep in mind for a scan, selecting a main subject. And number three, that's the backdrop material that you might choose to set over top of whatever you're scanning. And number for in the list of things that affect the look of your scan, that's the possibility of adding the element of movement to the scanning process, like so. And we'll get back to that a little bit more later on. Okay, meantime, there are two kinds of scans. There are overview scans and those are simply a quick snapshot of your scene. No image is gonna be saved to your computer when you make an overview scan. They're just something for you to look at, something for you to review. And I do a lot of these quick reference scans while I'm setting things up. And then there are also the actual scans that record an image. So let's get ourselves ready here for one of those actual scans by checking a few settings. Four settings in particular. And whatever kind of control panel you're using, it's almost definitely gonna have these same features. Okay, for starters, I'm gonna select the crop area for my scan, which first of all means making sure that the computer isn't gonna do any auto selecting for me. So I'll just drag a crop box on screen, like so, simple. And I can adjust the box using these little blue circles if I want to. And next I'll go with Color for the kind of scan I want, since I know I can always convert this thing to black and white later on if I want to using a program like Photoshop or Lightroom. And for a file Format it's gonna be TIFF and that's because, without getting into all the details here and all the reasons, TIFF just happens to be the most reliable and the most robust of the formats being offered. It'll give me the best image to work with later on when I'm finalizing its look. And last, for Resolution, well, that's a really big topic. It's big enough that it's gonna get its own video right after this one. So for now just trust me and let's go with 600 dpi. And yes, there are other controls and pull-downs on this panel, but I'm just gonna ignore those and so can you. And that's it, let's scan this thing. And the result looks pretty good. And I like it here even better after I brighten things up and added a slight yellowing tint in Lightroom. So there you go, nice little look at the foundational aspects of setting up and scanning a scene. And as simple as all that was, these basics we just looked at, when combined with a good dose of creativity and resourcefulness on your part it can result in a vast range of super eye-catching, really intriguing, and highly original outcomes.