Scan-O-Graphs How-To
Text and Photography by Lorraine Nilson

For years now I have been working on a series of photographs that I have titled, “Nature UP Close”.  They are finely detailed nature still life’s featuring mostly botanical subjects and are made using a modern variation of the old photo-gram technique.  I call them “Scan-O-Grams”.

Before You Get Started

Before you try your own “Scan-O-Grams” be prepared to spend some time in front of your computer as each of my finished “Scan-O-Grams takes between 5 and 15 hours to complete to my own standards.  I would suggest starting with an item with simple lines and that’s fairly flat.  Also, you should have a good working knowledge of PhotoShop. 

The Right Tools For The Job

You will need a flatbed scanner, PhotoShop and perseverance.  I use a cheap refurbished HP scanner and Photoshop 7.  The reason for the cheap on the scanner is you don’t want to ruin a good scanner by getting sap or another objectionable substance stuck on the glass scanning surface that wrecks it for other work.  

Picking a suitable object or subject to scan is very important so choose wisely, but remember, your sharpness depth (depth of field) is going to be very shallow but this is compensated in some part by the fact that the farther away from the scanning surface a portion of the object is the more that part of the object will fall into shadow. 

Let’s Start Scanning

Now you are ready to start.  Place the object on the scanner and drape a piece of paper over the top. I have used black construction paper, white paper and also nothing at all and truthfully they all work about the same.  I stick with the construction paper because of the weight.  It gives a slight compression to your object if it has a little spring to it. DO NOT CLOSE THE LID, you’ll crush your object and lose any depth you had.   I do several scans at a low dpi until I have the composition I like.   Don’t be concerned about the background.  (It is going to be awful.)  Once you have something you like crop it down to just your object and set the dpi to about 600 to 1200.  The exact dpi will depend on what you plan to do with your finished work and how large the original object is.  I can get a good 16x20 print out of most of the stuff I scan. 

Save your scan in Photo Shop.  

A Little Photoshop Magic…

Now this is where 95% of your time is needed. I can’t stress enough how important this is,  if your background isn’t good it will distract from your image and the effect will look so poor you that you will find the whole thing a major waist of time.  

 I start with the magic wand and set the tolerance somewhere between 5 & 20.  I select as much of the background as I can get without grabbing my object.  You may have to keep changing to a smaller tolerance as the colors in your background and object become more similar. You won’t get all of it so know it is just a rough grab.  Now create a new layer and paint your background color on this new layer.  You are creating a mask to hide your old ugly one.  Stay on your mask layer and zoom in 150 to 300%.  Now spend 5 plus hours painting in all of the spots you missed.  You may think I’m joking but I’m not, the smallest missed pixel will show on a large print.  When you think you have all the flaws covered, turn the eye off on the background layer (visibility) and look at your mask.  You will find spots you missed and need the eraser for some spots where you got carried away.  I often use the polygonal lasso tool around the edges to select my areas to paint.   If after all of this your image looks a little choppy around the edges use the eraser with a reduced flow to soften the edges that look too stiff.   

I have been playing with white backgrounds then using a drop shadow to give the look of setting on top of the paper but thus far I am not ready to show any.  It took me about 8 months of playing with the scans before I put them out for public viewing.  Understand what ever color you use for the background you will have to stock a lot of that color ink.  The advantage to the white is it’s free with the paper. 

If you haven’t been saving from time to time do it now.  Now do a “save as” and rename your file.  This will create a new file so if needed you can go back to the old file with your mask saved. 

I now make a copy of the background layer to work with.  I do everything in layers. I can then play with my colors, levels, curves and anything else I think might enhance my image (under adjustment layer.)  I like to try several things before I commit to paper. I spend a lot of time experimenting. (It keeps me out of therapy.)  Your imagination and knowledge of Photoshop will now dictate how your image looks. 

I have learned in Photoshop you can get the same results using many different steps and tools.  I have tried many ways to shorten the background process but like the end results of the method I described best.  You may find a way that works better for you.  I do vary the process for some images….you will have to determine how you want your image to look and how you can best to achieve that. 

A Final Note

I worked on the scan of the grapes while I was writing this.  It was my way of walking through each of the steps.  I did use a second mask on the grapes that I didn’t cover.  How complicated you get, will depend on your knowledge of Photoshop.  It took me about 12 hours to complete.  I used vibrant colors and may still mute them a little.  I hang a work print at my desk so over a period of time I can notice any parts I may want to change.  So there it is, now its your turn to try your hand at “Scan-O-Graphs” Have Fun!