I've had varying success with scanning, but I'm looking for a way to photograph ribbons without getting too much glare, and without any blurring. The cameras I have right now don't always work that well, and the scanner isn't that reliable either. I'm trying to make custom Craft Artist Pro 2 brushes with the ribbon samples.
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Here are my tips for photographing with minimal glare and blurring.
1. Find a camera that can take decent shots up close. My Galaxy S7's built-in camera isn't too shabby at this, actually, and most phones made in the last 2-3 years (especially Apple and Samsung products, plus some others) should work. I also have a point-and-shoot Canon that's got a great macro mode and really good zoom that I also use for shots that need detail to show well.
2. You want indirect light, if possible. Direct light will contribute to glare, as well as create unwanted shadows. This means don't use your flash if you can help it, and don't take photos out in direct sunlight. You want an overcast day, or shade, or several lamps if you're photographing in the evening.
3. Get a solid-color background. This afternoon I took some button photos and just used white and black construction paper. A solid color that contrasts with your subject matter will make it easier to clean up the photos later.
4. Hold your camera steady. Blurriness usually comes either from your lens not being very good at macro shots (you're too close and it can't focus) or because your arms shake and the light level isn't high enough for the camera to take good steady photos. The lower the light level, the longer the shutter release will be (on the automatic setting, which is probably what you'll be using), and the longer the shutter release, the more likely a little camera movement is going to cause blur.
5. Take a few photos. You're more likely to have at least one photo turn out well that way. Digital film is cheap, after all.
If you're scanning instead, be aware that unless you have a fancy scanner, things will probably have blur to them unless they're flat, and even then you might notice some blurring in parts. Put a black sheet of paper behind any light-colored things you're scanning to make them easier to cut out digitally, and I've seen suggestions to also drape a cloth that doesn't let light through over the scanner while it's scanning, to reduce glare from the side. Since scanners use light in the process, shiny things are going to come out with some level of glare and there isn't much you can do to help that.
Thank you for the advice! And yeah, my phone's camera is pretty good at taking pictures - especially ones of my baby birds.
Great Question and answer! Thank you! Do any of you have a designated set up/copy stand for photographing objects? If so, what brand? Pros and cons?
I don't. My camera and scanner both end up being whatever I've got at the moment.
Right now, my scanner is an HP Envy 5052, which is an average consumer-level scanner and probably not the best for anything that isn't flat. There are small blurry patches in ribbons I've scanned that are only really mitigated by the fact that I scanned them very large so I could conceivably sharpen those spots up in Photoshop and then let the resampling that comes from making the final image smaller soften things back up a bit, while still having an image that is plenty large enough for digital scrapbooking supplies. My setup for scanning the ribbons was to basically put a black paper behind the light ones (the white scanner lid was fine for the dark ones), and use some books to press things down as flat as possible while scanning. I may have also draped a towel over it when things were thick enough to let light in from the side. It was fine, but I'll be photographing ribbons in the future.
My current cameras are the stock camera on my Galaxy S7, which is decent for a phone camera, and a Canon PowerShot SX710 HS that's good but may be showing its age a bit (it's having a more difficult time focusing properly now when not in strong light). My setup for the phone camera is to just make sure I have sufficient lighting because I don't have a lot of control in the settings. It's at least decent at focusing even close-up, though I do make use of the voice controls so I don't risk shaking the camera by tapping the shutter release button on the screen (if you have voice/remote controls for any camera, use those).
When I need to photograph with my Canon, I may take the time to set up a PVC lightbox I made (a framework of PVC pipes that I can attach a backdrop to and drape a cloth over if need be, with lots of lamps pointed at it. Most of the time, though, I just make sure I have enough light (outside in the shade on a bright day, or with as many lights turned on in one corner of the house as possible to get light from every angle to reduce shadows). In this case, backdrops could be just about anything: construction paper, cloth, a table top, cardstock, even the surface of my Wacom tablet once. As long as the contrast will be good, because you do not want to be stuck trying to separate a white flower from a white background.
Pros? My "no set setup" method is flexible. I can take photos whenever I need to.
Cons? Not having a dedicated setup, my results may be inconsistent at times and need to be redone later. Not to mention using my phone means having to go and download all the photos off of Google Photos, whereas using my Canon lets me just hook it up straight to my computer to download the photos to my hard drive.
Amanda- Thanks for this awesome answer! I am envious of your voice control on your phone- but my iPhone doesn't allow for that, but air drop makes it supper easy to transfer photos from my phone to my mac.... I am intrigued with extracting elements from photos because I like realistic elements, but extracting is a new idea to me- so thanks for taking the time to help/advise. I have CS6 ( that I rarely use because PSE has a photo bin and PS doesn't), PSE14, Illustrator (that I haven't touched in years) and Lightroom ( that my husband uses, but I hardly ever touch)- which software is best for extraction?
I do my extraction in Photoshop CS2. Yes, that old. I need to see if I can get a copy of CS5 or CS6 on eBay or something because I don't earn enough to make the subscription to CC worthwhile, but I like the functionality of Photoshop over GIMP and Krita. I would say either version of Photoshop you have (CS6 or Elements) should work fine for extraction. Or any art program really, as long as it supports transparency.
The real trick is making sure you have a high-quality image with clear edges. For example, here are some extractions I've done of flowers I photographed:
One of those three photos was taken with my phone, rather than my camera. Guess which one.
Your versions of Photoshop might have some of the nice edge-finding tools that are handy for extraction. Mine doesn't, so I use the Quick Mask tool (where you paint a transparent color over parts of the image, and then when you switch back to regular mode, the parts that weren't colored in are selected) with my tablet for finer control. You could also use the lasso/magnetic lasso tools to select along the edges, or the pen tool in paths mode to draw a path around the object and then convert the path to a selection.
Thanks Amanda- I'm definitely going to try this with my own photos. I've tried lace with a scanner, but the shadows made it SUPER tedious to clean up. I can see from your examples how important crisp edges are. I have not clue which one was taken with your phone, but if I were to guess, I'd say the violet...
I was really glad to get my software before it went to subscription. I purchased it through the Academic Super Store when my kids were in High School. Huge discounts for students!. Recently, My son's college gave him his own copy (he is taking product design) of CS6 because they had lots of spares since they are on subscription at the school now. So you might try schools that have a design program... Good Luck!
The rose, actually.
I'll have to ask around. Thanks for the suggestion.
I try to scan or photograph them (on my range, for all the super lighting there) on a complementary colored background, as in green for red and red for green. Then I use the scissors app is all.
I use anything I can get a clear, crisp image from; this could be my cell phone, my DSLR, or the scanner on my printer. All work well; it's just a question of which is best for a given item. For scanning bulkier objects, I use a box with a black interior rather than the towel Amanda mentioned.
For extracting, Photoshop is my software of choice, and the Pen tool is my favorite of the options as I can cut the element out perfectly by drawing a shape on a separate layer that I then use as a clipping mask. Lace items and evergreen boughs are tedious, but they still come out great. I wrote a tutorial a few years back on how to do this method: http://renehollyklein.com/2015/11/tutorial-awesome-extractions/ That site doesn't have Cloudflare set up, so it's slow, but I think the tutorial is well worth the load time.
Tons of great info here! Thank you ladies!
Scissors app?
Amanda, Bina and Holly - Thanks again for taking the time to reply. Lots of things to try. Will check out the tutorial Holly- Thanks. I also have the same question as Rachel for Bina- Scissor app?