I finally decided to tackle the HUGE box of kids' artwork I need to scan in, and I'm decidedly unimpressed with the quality of our printer/scanner combo. None of the colors are accurate, the scans aren't crisp, and anything with beads - or even sequins! - is a blurry mess. Help me out here, ladies! What do you use for scanning non-photos?
I have this one: Epson Perfection V39 Color Photo & Document Scanner with Scan-To-Cloud & 4800 Optical Resolution,Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SSXQ7Q2/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_C7u3EbXMYFEAH IDK how it does with beads/sequins/3D but I am extremely impressed with its typical scanning ability. It's almost dinnertime here so I can't take photos this second, but I will tonight to show you some of these photos it has scanned that it has done, if you'd like. I scanned a very small photo of my grandparents and turned it into a 10 by 14 canvas print. It's going to be my dad's birthday gift this year. The scanner has features to help with old photo restoration, which may help you with art projects: you can adjust color and other features.
Our scanner with our HP All-In-One is pretty good, but I actually have enjoyed just taking photos and using those instead of scans, especially if it's artwork where the sizes are way too big for the platen.
Yeah... my scanner does the same thing with anything dimensional, so I usually end up just taking photos of my kids artwork. It's so much faster too!
I think a photo scanner or photo camera is the best option. I'm waiting to buy a serious scanner to batch scan multiple photos at once but that wouldn't work for textured items. You'd run the risk of having some little bit of paint flake, sequin, bead etc fall into the mechanism! which would be goodbye investment! EEK! Right now my all in one Canon Pixma 7520 serves me well enough.
Okay, so how do y'all handle the lighting when you photograph your kids' work? Or am I just waaay over the top picky? I probably am.
I have a Canon Pixma all-in-one that does a decent job scanning, but lately I'm loving using Google PhotoScan. It seems to work better than just taking a photo of things.
@honeyandcheese "Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good." and the done! I use my iPhoneXr in normal daylight - I live in MD so have Mid Atlantic light. Your daytime light will depend on where - the latitude - you live. Cooler light in the north and warmer light the closer you are to the equator. Reverse for southern hemisphere.
I'm not that picky when I photograph things but for some things I try to get as much natural light as possible. I have a sliding door on the north side of the house so will use that at times. Sometimes I do need to turn on all overhead lights as well. I have "cool" bulbs in my lights in the dining room and kitchen where the sliding door is. I also very rarely use a flash when I photograph anything no matter what.
I've been photographing their art & stuff too. Given the time it takes my all in one canon to 'warm up'& think & everything, unless it's a beautiful certificate or something intricate, I've just been taking photos instead of scanning. I know what you mean about lighting. I have gotten less fussy but I also have a few sheets of white cardboard that I can prop up to make a 'light box' of sorts on top of the chest freezer in the laundry that gets pretty even light (it has bathroom window kind of frost film on its big sliding door so it's pretty diffused) but if I need to, I can bounce flash my DSLR speed light off the flat white ceiling & setting the DSLR's white balance to the flash setting usually makes the colours pretty true to life (because I don't like having to colour fix scans either!) .
