Adjust the brightness & contrast sliders and keep previewing until the preview matches the colours, detail & contrast of the original artwork.

From the point of view of being able to adjust later in Photoshop, I prefer a scan that is slightly on the dark side over one that is too light. Depending on your scanner you may need to adjust the brightness and contrast. You won’t be at the mercy of varying lighting conditions and a scanner will get great detail and every bit will be in focus.īefore scanning ensure the resolution is set to 300ppi. If your art is relatively flat and fits on your scanner it is preferable to use this method. Nothing is more annoying than loading the pictures onto your computer only to find that they are not in focus or not everything is in equal focus. Using manual focus if your camera allows it is helpful. You are trying to achieve equal soft lighting on the whole painting, no direct harsh light or shadows. I have a window on the left side of the wall which throws light, so I use a simple soft box light pointing at the painting from the right. The more accurate you can be about this, the less you will have to ‘fix’ in Photoshop in terms of distorting the picture to make it fit. I also make sure my tripod is leveled and the camera is straight. I use a spirit level to ensure it is completely straight. I attach my artwork to the wall with Blu Tack or picture hanging strips. Using a tripod (or some other way to stabilise your camera) is essential.

This amazing video by Tyler Stalman & Jason Eng created for Saatchi Online explains perfectly how to take good pictures of your art. Pretty much any digital camera will do as long as you make sure to set it to the highest quality & resolution.

Most of my art is too big or awkward for my A4 scanner, so I photograph it with my Nikon Coolpix P7800. Don’t forget to Share, Tweet or Pin this article if you find it helpful! Photographing Your Art Below I walk you through the entire process I use to prepare my images to make high quality prints. I wanted to share some tips with you all about how I create scans/pictures of my art and edit them in Photoshop.

Art scanning