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Display your artwork on your website for the entire world to see! To put images of your artwork on your website, you will need to get images of your artwork in an appropriate digital format which is gradually becoming easier and less expensive as the price of hardware plummets and photographic developers begin to offer digital solutions. First, you will need to take or get photographs of your artwork that look professional and clear. Photography resources. Books. Magazines http://www.photographymonthly.com http://www.amateurphotographer.com http://www.digitalphotouser.co.uk Online photography guide Kodak Lesson Plan on Photography Or contact your local professional photographers usually advertised in local newspapers or the Yellow Pages. If you use a professional photographer, make sure they have all of the experience necessary to capture, store and transfer digital images of your artwork onto your computer before you employ their services. However, if you choose to take your own photographs, some of the above books and magazines will also show you how to store, manipulate and transfer your images and photos onto your computer. Using non-digital photography Use a scanner to get digital images of your artwork. Using a scanner used to be the only way of getting your photographs on to your computer, and you can still use a scanner to make your photographs digital. A scanner works much like a photocopy machine; it scans your artwork, and creates a digital image of your artwork, which is then transferred to your computer via the cables and software provided. The great thing about using a scanner is it gives you flexibility. You can scan photos, drawings, doodles, etc, and instructions should be included with the scanner detailing how to use it and transfer your images to your computer. There are three types of scanner: Hand-held Hand-held scanners can be used to scan pretty much anything, but you need a steady hand for good results. Sheet-fed Sheet-fed scanners tend to be small and neat, and work by feeding your images through rollers. Flatbed Flatbed scanners are bulkier and take up more precious studio space but you can scan anything that fits under the lid. Scanners aren't as expensive as they used to be - you can pick up a decent, scanner for around �50 - �100 from your local computer hardware store. Check out the reviews in current computer magazines, to see which machine will suit your needs and your pocket. Scanners in the balance. PROS: Scanners are reasonably inexpensive, flexible and produce good quality images (if you have a decent scanner). CONS: They take up additional studio space, and you have to get your photographs developed before scanning. SUMMARY: If you want control, flexibility, a chance to exercise your creativity and you're not in a hurry, then scanning is a good way to make your images digital. Scanners: Useful Sites: http://www.pcworld.co.uk http://ukdigitalcameras.safeshopper.com/30/cat30.htm Use a digital camera to get digital images of your artwork. Digital cameras are becoming all the rage. Digital cameras don't carry film - instead they store your pictures digitally in the camera's memory. To see your photos, you have to transfer them from the camera to your computer, simply plug the camera into your computer using the cables and software supplied with the camera. Digital cameras are lots of fun to play with. The models with an LCD display enable you to view the picture before and after you've taken it, so if you don't like what you've snapped, you can delete it immediately. They are excellent if you want your pictures on the web, as you can take a stream of pictures and transfer them to your computer right away, and, with ArtsCurator, have them on your website in no time. You do not have to wait and pay for your film to be processed. Digital cameras in the balance. PROS: Digital cameras can be good fun, fast, easy to use, very convenient and, of course, there are no film costs. CONS: They sometimes have dubious picture quality, and also have a limited memory. SUMMARY: You do not have the hassle of processing film and you can publish your photographs almost instantly with a digital camera, but the quality of images can be poor for the money you are paying. Digital Cameras: Useful sites: http://www.dpreview.com http://www.cameras.co.uk/index.cfm Use digital processing to get digital images of your artwork. Whenever you have your camera film processed, you can choose to have your photographs made into digital images at the same time. Ask your local processing shop/facility to put your photos on to Picture Disk, FlashPix CD-ROM or PhotoCD. Picture Disk converts your photos into JPEG images and puts them on a floppy disk - each disk can hold up to 28 JPEG images. Processing takes about a week and costs about �9.99 for one to 28 photographs, including the printed version of your photos. The resolution of the JPEGs is good enough for display on a computer screen or Web page but you won't get great results if you then print them out on a printer. FlashPix offers better quality images than Picture Disk, but it is more expensive. A FlashPix CD costs �4.99, which you buy when you hand in your film in for processing. The CD holds up to 300 images, so when you get your next film developed, you hand in the same FlashPix CD, and so on, until you have no space left on the disc. In addition to the price of the CD, it costs about �13.99 to develop between 16 and 28 photos, again including the printed versions of your photographs. You can add negatives and slides for about 65 pence each. PhotoCD was developed by Kodak in 1992 as a means of storing high- resolution digital images and is aimed at professionals. The prices are the same as for FlashPix but PhotoCD only stores 100 high-resolution images. Digital processing in the balance: PROS: Digital processing is an easy, hassle-free way to get digital images onto a disk (floppy or CD) and then transfer them to your computer easily. CONS: Processing images in this way can be expensive in the long run and takes a long time to process. OVERALL: If you have pennies to spare and can wait a week to get your pictures, a FlashPix CD-ROM is the thing to buy. Useful sites: PictureDisk FlashPix Digital Archiving. It is a good idea to collect your digital images and store them carefully on your computer (and elsewhere in case of damage to your computer) so that you can find them again easily. A digital photo archive is simply a collection of digital files. The simplest digital archive is, of course, a folder on your hard drive with all your digital files inside. If you only have a few hundred images, this is a fine way to store them; you might even have individual folders by subject to make searching the archive a little easier. Artists with many more images that wish to create a large digital photo archive can contact ArtsCurator via the website, as we can provide an image library that will help you organize and store large number of images with complex search and find facilities. For Further Information. For more help, assistance or information on any of the issues in this guide, please refer to your local professional photographers, hardware dealers and/or photo shop. The ArtsCurator service does not provide photographic services, scanning or imaging services at the moment, but please feel free to e-mail us and give us your opinion of this online guide, the issues discussed here, and whether it would be helpful to include any such services with ArtsCurator in the future. This is only a guide, and although all information is taken from strictly professional sources, should be read as advice only. The prices quoted were correct at time of publication, but these will be subject to change so please check with your hardware and service providers. Good luck with your photography, and enjoy transforming your artwork into an image which, with ArtsCurator, people all around the world will be able to see! |
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