# Can anyone help please?



## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

I'm a tad stuck. I have some artwork I need to take clear, precise black and white photos of. They are drawn with pen and black ink on white paper. When I took a shot of a rough drawing this morning, it seemed to come up with the white paper, not white. i.e.










Do you have any suggestions on how I can improve the photo itself?


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## mastercylinder60 (Dec 18, 2005)

more light.


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

Thank you. Natural or artificial? Natural seems to make the paper look more blueish, and artificial seems to leave a bit of a glare even though the paper has a matt surface.


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## chicapesca (Jun 7, 2004)

I wish I could help you Koru, but all I get when I make it monochrome, is grayish paper, not completely white.


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## Freshwaterman (May 21, 2004)

*Can Be Scanned??*

*It is the lighting...flash or artificial requires even lighting on the frawing.*

*Is it something of size that you can scan? If really needed and you do not have a scanner, you can go to Kinkos.*

*I will capture your image and see if I can do anything...id so, will post back to here.*


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## Freshwaterman (May 21, 2004)

*A little better*

*A little better....shadow is still there from uneven lighting. Sorry that could not help more.*


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## grayfish (Jul 31, 2005)

Is the paper color acually white or some othe color? If white you may be able to get a better shot in the morning or evening sun. It should give you a more even lighting. Come to think of it. It should not matter what color the paper is. You just need even lighting across the whole drawing. Then post that here. Some one then may be able to do a little more work on the picture.


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## grayfish (Jul 31, 2005)

Gave one more try. Not exactly white. Click on the image for a larger version.


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## Dorado-Mahi (May 23, 2004)

Here's my go at it. Tough one.


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## State_Vet (Oct 10, 2006)

What about lighting it from the backside? Will that work?


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## Freshwaterman (May 21, 2004)

Can you not just scan it with a high resolution scanner?


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## Shed Hunter (Mar 14, 2006)

*Art work*



Koru said:


> I'm a tad stuck. I have some artwork I need to take clear, precise black and white photos of. They are drawn with pen and black ink on white paper. When I took a shot of a rough drawing this morning, it seemed to come up with the white paper, not white. i.e.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


When I was taking photos of art work I used 2 lights at 45 degrees to the piece. If you use incidecent light set the camera to that light source. Make sure the piece is 90 degrees to the camera. Hope this helps.


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

I don't have a scanner, so I can't try that one.

I didn't think to try two lights evenly distributing the light across the paper. I'll give that a go. (It's probably better for a prospective publisher if I can have the original photo as black and white as possible, so I'll give it a couple more tries. I'll try it with lights and I'll try it with afternoon sun (it's come out here today, finally) and see what I end up with.

I'll also try the back lighting idea... I can hang it on a sun facing window and see what happens, thanks for that idea State_Vet.

If all else fails I may end up using one of your pieces grey_fish or DM. Thank you for taking it that far.

_Shed Hunter, I LOVE this word: incidecent. I may have to borrow it for a poem.  _

You all are awesome people, thank you for your suggestions.
rosesm


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

Big difference...

Full sun, with close up setting and black and white option:


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

back lit with sunlight, close up, black and white:









back lit with sunlight, close up, high colour:


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

or of course the other option is to take the photo in full sun light, close up, black and white and then copy it into a word document, right click on the picture to get the picture tool bar, second button from the left ('color') and select black and white. (Thank you to my NY exchange student)

now we've just gotta figure out a way of getting it online because it doesn't attach as a .doc. hmm


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

copied from the word doc to MS Photo Editor and saved as a .gif to attach here... i get there in the end.


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## Guest (Nov 1, 2006)

What is wrong with Dorado-Mahi's rendition?

How can you get more B&W than that. ~ And how did he do it?


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

Nothing is wrong with it. It seems pretty much perfect and I may end up using it. 

rosesm

How did he do it is a good question. Maybe he can share it because it sure took me hours to come up with what I did and I will have a fair bit of artwork to photograph.


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## grayfish (Jul 31, 2005)

You full sun version in gray scale no background .gif file


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## Walkin' Jack (May 20, 2004)

Is it just me or does anyone else think the pick of this delicate artwork is gorgeous in any light of shade of white? I liked ever single version of the pic including the original. But then I'm easy...


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

grayfish said:


> You full sun version in gray scale no background .gif file


 I have just had a thought. This website is showing on my browser as a kind of grey background... is it changing the white to grey? I so don't want to think of that at this time of day. lol

grayfish, now that's interesting... can you explain 'gray scale' please? You know, one thing about being a novice is that there is so much to learn and so many questions to seek answers for.

I was thinking I'm going to need another lifetime to sort it all out, but now I'm beginning to think I'm going to need another two lifetimes.


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

Walkin' Jack said:


> Is it just me or does anyone else think the pick of this delicate artwork is gorgeous in any light of shade of white? I liked ever single version of the pic including the original. But then I'm easy...


 Walkin' Jack, you are one of a kind. Thank you.

rosesm


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## grayfish (Jul 31, 2005)

Grayscale. It us what most people call black and white. Its made made up of shades of gray (black to gray to white) Sorry for the confusion. In the graphics world. Black and White it just that. There is no gray. Although the eye can be fooled into thinking there is. You see it all the time in new papers. Only black ink it use to print many pictures in photos in newspapers. They are made up of many dots some close together and some not and scattered. Look at a black and white photo in a newspaper with a magnifying glass and you will see what I mean. 

I should have just said Black and White. I call it gray scale because it is what my program calls it.


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## grayfish (Jul 31, 2005)

Walkin' Jack said:


> Is it just me or does anyone else think the pick of this delicate artwork is gorgeous in any light of shade of white? I liked ever single version of the pic including the original. But then I'm easy...


As usual (sometimes anyway), you are right WJ. It is beautiful anyway you look at it. Reminds me of a Oriental block print of cherry blossoms. Vey nice Koru. I just got caught up in the work are cold not see the beauty of what I was working on. Thanks for pointing that out WJ.


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## grayfish (Jul 31, 2005)

Koru--- Here is a better definition of grayscale than I gave. Along wiht an example.

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Grayscale+images


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

grayfish said:


> Koru--- Here is a better definition of grayscale than I gave. Along wiht an example.
> 
> http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Grayscale+images


 Your definition of grayscale was perfect, thank you. 

I have seen very detailed artwork drawn with only the use of black ink dots on white paper. What you said instantly reminded me of that. The closer the dots the blacker the image. 

The picture I used here was just a very quick rendering of the original black and white cherry blossom I posted here a while ago. It only vaguely looks like the same photo. *smile* Artistic license perhaps?  I do have a water colour painting of a cherry blossom that you might like to see. I'll dig it out when the sun is higher, see how it will photograph and share it here.

rosesm


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)




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## grayfish (Jul 31, 2005)

very nice.


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## galvetraz (Nov 29, 2005)

I borrowed a section to fill the thin line in the center.


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

oh my gosh would you look at that! and you cleaned up the smudge too. thank you galvetraz, i appreciate what you've done.

man, modern technology sure is a miracle.


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