An inspirational story:
http://photoshopnews.com/2006/08/28/scanner-artist-marsha-tudor-exhibit/

So what can you do?

Use your flatbed to scan real world objects and post them in this thread. Either post the straight scan, or play with it and see what you can create.

I have seen this mentioned before and thought i would have a go but never got round to it, so i thought today i would give it a quick go ( wrong ) took time trying to think what to scan raining today so anything from the garden is wet etc so found some artificial flowers and tried them without the the lid on and with (not so good) tweaked a little in Photoshop now i will have to give some serious thought to it. I know Patricia Kay has posted a photo of some shells she had scanned , also i looked up scan art in Wikipedia which included some links to "scan artists" looked at some but not all this is a very interesting subject. Thank you Doug for bringing this to the fore should get interesting

Palms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanner_art

The article mentions she got the deep background black by leaving the lid off. What it doesn't mention, but I must assume due to the obvious fragility of some of her subjects, is that she built some sort of frame to hang objects from. This way they could get close to the scanner glass without touching it (see the delicate stamens that aren't bent or flattened in any way). But it's just a guess.

There are more examples here

http://www.abstractconcreteworks.com/essays/scanning/3d-scans.html

I especially like this one
http://www.abstractconcreteworks.com/essays/scanning/daffodils.html


A frame is usually made to hold the objects to prevent them from getting squashed.
The objects and frame can then be covered with a black cloth to prevent stray light entering the scanner.

Cling film can be used on the glass for scanning ‘messy’ objects.


Ken.

Well this looked like fun so I had to give it a try. For lack of a better object I scanned in my aircon remote. I took the lid off but the background was all white. So I the second time I switched all the lights off pulled down the blinds and, hey, it worked. I did notice some banding on the black background. You can't really see it in the attachment because I cropped it to make it smaller. Is there something wrong with my scanner? Also I noticed a lot of dirt on the glass. What is the best way to clean it without damaging it. Finally, the article mentions that because the scanner is flat there should be no blurring of the edges but there is clear blurring on the edges of the remote. Why would this be?

Syd

Oh, I forgot to mention that my scanner is an EPSON STYLUS CX3500. I scanned it in as a Photograph. It only gives me two options: photograph and document.

Hello Doug, as Palms mentioned I scanned seashells on cling film...so i didnt scratch the scanner glass...keep meaning to get around to doing more but as Palms said ..Its a rainy day job...providing you have already picked the flowers....Posting an example for you....my scanner is a Canon...

Patricia..... :classic:

Well the quickest thing I found for scanning was a dime; so I scanned it.

Doug i agree it may not be as simple as putting things on and scanning i did find that with the lid off you do get the blacker background but i think i lost that when i tweaked should of done a selective colour tweak as well. When i done one with the lid on it was a bit squished and had the lighter background hmm will have to see how everyone else does while i try and wait for artistic inspiration :dizzy:
Ken i agree with you the daffs are beautiful
Syd cant comment on anything there like you just playing around to see what happens or not !
Patricia i still like your shells and think the cling film is a great idea
Phil excellent i never knew a dime could look so well pretty !

Palms

just had a thought we arent going to get any naked parts are we like they do with photo copiers * oh no that has given me a thought so here is a sort of hand wave from me to all of you to say hello
here are a few tips
1 make sure your scanner is in a easy place to reach not like mine where i needed to be more flexible than i really am !
2. It is harder than you think tried to hold my hand above the glass but my hand shook a bit which blurred the scan so i decided on the squished wave

again Palms

I love sticking all manner of stuff in my scanner (keep an old, much battered and abused scanner for the purpose) Good source of textures and the like.
Here are some glass pebbles...

The 'Hairy-Winged Butterfly'... or at least part thereof, I found in my scanner :tongue:

I've used my scanner for a few projects, as photos don't always give this effect. I did this one some time ago for someone who wanted a feather for a business logo.
http://www.chrishoggy.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/chrisp.jpg

lol. i love the 'hairy winged butterfly' :) it also got me to thinking; anyone ever do a scan of a wig? might make for a good source of 'hair' textures.

craig

Craig, I have a collection of scans of my own hair (I have very long hair so it is not so awkward a task as it may seem hehe) for that purpose... and the textures I get come up really well with straight hair, tight curls and braids can be a tad tricky tho.

This uses a color copier, but it's the same concept (might need to register in order to see). Some beautiful images:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/10/science/10eisn.html

Thanks Doug....

Some nice images there....inspiring....I didnt have to register...

Patricia..... :classic:

Cool thread. Here are a couple I played with for another forum. I think I posterized the flowers, and the other one is an animal print hand towel scanned and then embossed along w/ some other filters I can't recall, but I thought it might make an interesting background sometime.

I like the idea of using the scanner for a camera. I just never get around to exploring it further. Here's tutorial type article
http://www.photo-vinc.com/articles/Flatbedscanner/Flatbedscanner.html

Hi Cat..

Nice arrangement of flowers....I also think the other one would make a terrific background...I too would like to do more object scanning,,,but i usually get sidetracked....One Day!!!!!

Patricia :dizzy:

Photoshop...Love your new avatar...great colors!!!!

I had another go with these flowers,as you can see pollen was a problem but thinking i will stop with my camera for now

Palms

Love that Palms...

Now i know what colors your fushias are.... :lol:

Patricia..... :classic:

I was surprised by the distortion when I scanned this lamp base...it is made of an aluminium alloy and was made with precision...all the holes are round not elliptical..anyone know if you can correct for this before you scan?

Hi Ogee

I would be very surprised if this is caused by the scanner. The lamp base is not lying flat on the scanner. Try rotating the lamp base 90 and see if the distortion changes. Or better still, scan a piece of graph paper and check that for distortion.

Hope this helps

Ken.

This is rather sick.

I was looking for something to scan and I found this old dried up carpenter ant that I had on my desk for a month or so. Was going to ID it but never got around to it. Moving it to the scanner caused it to come apart so obviously I had to put it back together before posting.

My daughters tell me that since I'm retired I have simply too much time on my hands. Obviously this is not true.

Albatross :lol: :lol: :lol: Tell your daughters that it has given you a lesoon in biology and photoshop and probably patience ( the more important one as it is needed to deal with ones offspring )

Palms

Very cool I had read about it but never tried it...so i got the closest thing I had to the scanner..my left hand.
scanned it in hovering over the scanner (not touching the glass)..the only change is that I used the curve to brighten it..the color, clarity everything was there from the get go..
Very interesting.

Lasa

Again not touching the glass...curve only.
Now this is fun...I'm thinking of throwing my camera away and just running around with my scanner..
Lasa

Again not touching the glass...curve only.
Now this is fun...I'm thinking of throwing my camera away and just running around with my scanner..
Lasa

Problem with that Lasa is you will need a plug socket :dizzy:

must admit though it is fun, will have to give it another whirl soon

Palms

Problem with that Lasa is you will need a plug socket :dizzy:

must admit though it is fun, will have to give it another whirl soon

Palms

There must be a wireless, battery operated scanner somewhere in the marketplace... :idea:

Canon made one that just ran off the usb without separate power

I have done several series of scanned objects over the last 5 years, dried flowers and other stuff. I am always amazed by the fact there is no depth of field at all. One series I did of found objects included a jolly rancher that I printed large enough that the actual candy was about 3 feet long. It held up well, amazing.

Very nice Sweetlight. I like the clarity and the subject matter you chose, not to mention the collage itself.

Janet

Thank you Miss Janet. That magnolia blossom is actully what it looks like if you peel the big petals off of them.

Chris