the scannography blog

I wanted to start this from the beginning. It is now time !! I wish to compare what kind of scanner we use to do our scanns. Here under you will find a list of questions I would like you to answer.

An example of the differences between scanners. I scanned this insect (lucanus cervus) with 2 different scanners and you can see the result is very different :

This one is with the Quato X-finity and covered with white paper. Not much depth of field but a good color depth.


This one is with the Epson 1670. Greater depth of field ! But I reworked the colors and contrast on that one…

Here is the questionnary in 16 points :

Please copy the questions and answer them on a mail to me

1. How many scanners do you own ?

2, What trademark and what model is it ?

3. What is the maximum resolution of it per inch (dpi) without interpolation ?

4. Is it enough for your scannography works ?

5. Do you know how much depth of field it has ?

6. Do you know what color depth it has ?

7. Is it a 3-pass or 1-pass scanner ?

8. Is it CCD or CIS ?

9. Do you use it unconventially (like not letting it on a flat surface, taking it outdoor…) ?

10. Do you use external light to enhance your scanning ?

11. Are you protecting the glass when scanning objects ?

12. How do you clean the glass ?

13. Do you rework your scanns or do you use the image as it comes out once scanned ?

14. What software do you use to rework your images ?

15. What kind of computer to do you use ?

16. Is there anything specific you want to add about your material ?

Photo-Artists who want guidance on scanning flowers and other three-dimensional objects using a (preferably Epson Perfection/Expression) flatbed scanner normally used for digitizing film, photographs and documents can attend my classes at digitalartacademy.com

There are over 100 "scanographers" devoted to this emerging medium but there is only a handful of published books and articles about the subject. Many of the artists are conventional photographers, but many are pursuing fine art scanning exclusively. Although this is a medium that appears to be initially "easy" to accomplish, soon challenges arise and then one gets ambitious. Many of the artists have admitted to an "obsession" with scanning, in particular- flowers (myself included!). But then as soon as I saw my first murky scan I recognised the creative potential. I had no idea that other artists had independently "discovered" that a scanner is actually a very high rez digital camera. It was years before I realized that there was another artist, right in my own backyard (okay, 20 minutes down I-95 to be exact) doing exactly the same thing! Not only that, our artistic approach and our specimens were so similar that it gave the both of us chills! Because some guy keeps messing with the Wikipedia "Scanography" entry that I started several years ago, Christian and I have started this blog by and for photoartists who are actively pursuing this medium or interested in learning more about it.

About Scanner Photography:

The flatbed scanner was developed by Ray Kurzweil.

To the best of my knowledge the first artist(s) to use the procedure for scanning three-dimensional objects as a work of art appears to be Keith Smith/Sonia Sheridan. (MoMA exhibit April 1974.)

Technically, scanner photography has more in common with large-format camera photography than it has with Xerox copy images. Many scanographers had experimented with "Xerox" and color copier object collage images until the color photo scanner/computer became affordable in the 1990s (myself included). The method of arranging objects face-down on the platen "feels" exactly the same and the resulting image is a 1:1 capture...but the "negative" is equal to a reproducable digital image file.

If you want a copy of "The List" (of photoartists involved in this medium) send me an e-mail request.