Tips on Documenting your work and File Preparation

 Goals

Your primary goal is to create an accurate reproduction of the object, as close to the experience of seeing it in person as possible.

This entails:

• image quality _ creating an image with high resolution
• even lighting across the entire picture plane (avoid cast shadows and gradations caused by directional light)
• framing _ keeping the picture plane parallel to the viewer pov (the lens)
• making sure that Focus is consistent and clear for the whole drawing
• getting a full representation of the drawing but cropping extraneous information
• providing “details” when you’re working on a large drawing to show minute information or surface/mark-making quality

Most of this can be achieved in the initial photograph if you set up the right conditions. Even so, I always end up bringing the file into photoshop to fine-tune certain aspects and prepare it for professional standards of presentation and file sizing.

A scanner simplifies all of this and is the preferred method in most cases. However, the size limitation of most scanner beds can make this impractical depending on the size or medium of your drawing. I don’t expect that all of you will have a scanner, so let’s first address how you might approach this with a digital camera or most likely, your smartphone. 

Documentation with a Smartphone

Camera quality and software capability will vary depending on the generation of phone that you have. I don’t intend to discuss particular hardware, but rather general guidelines in terms of DOs and DON’Ts. 

Image Quality 

On some phones and digital cameras you may need to specify the resolution that you want. HD was an option that you had to manually designate in earlier iPhones, though it now seems standard in current iOs. It’s best to start with the highest resolution that you can achieve and then reduce the size for sharing after editing.

Lighting (*the flash is not your friend*)

Let’s look at examples from a few different lighting situations. (All shot using iPhone 11, no editing.)

1. Laying on my drawing table. Overhead LED Strip lights + natural light flooding in from window.

In order to keep from casting a shadow, I have to photograph from farther away, making parallel framing harder and sacrificing a little detail. Also, I will have to adjust for color a little more during editing as a result of the competing temperatures of light. 

2. Hanging on the wall. Overhead LED Strip light.

Notice how this situation creates an image that is lighter at the top and darker towards the bottom. Also, it’s subtle but there is a horizontal cast shadow (of me) about ¾ down the image.

3. Exterior light. Overcast day. In my carport.

This is optimal for getting the most even lighting and accurate color. Because the light is not directional (from above) I can hold the phone over it pretty close without casting a shadow. This doesn’t work nearly as well when the sun is out and casting warm, directional light.

Framing 

You want to frame your photo to keep the picture plane parallel to the viewers point of view. A lot of cameras have an option to impose a grid as part of the viewfinder which can help you achieve this. 

This image is fine for a studio process shot on Instagram. (#wip)  

But for your class submissions framing should be more like this. 

Focus 

This should be pretty good as a result of getting your framing parallel since there will be no changes in depth of field. However, shooting in low light conditions requires a longer exposure time which is ok if you are using a tripod. Much more challenging to hold your camera/phone still for long exposures.

“Details”

Detail shots are good for zooming in on more detailed areas in larger, complicated drawings.

They are also good for giving the viewer a sense of the surface and material quality of the object. i.e. How the drawing was made.

Documentation with a Scanner

Scanning drawings removes most of the challenges described above. However, it can change the feel of a drawing and sometimes washes them out. I like to scan my drawings as tifs at 300 dpi. This serves as my original and then I edit and reduce file size or optimize for web from there. 

Another limitation of using a scanner is the size of the bed (usually 8.5 x 11” in most home All-in-1 scanner/printers). This can be overcome by scanning in sections and stitching together in photoshop but requires a little more time and software familiarity. 

PREPARING FILES FOR SUBMISSION

This short video shows how I typically approach editing, sizing, and saving photos of my work.