Welcome to my bi-weekly article about great entertainment images on the Web. This time, I'll give some tips on using a scanner to turn hard copy into digital images.
I have a scanner myself, and it has helped me to put some great pictures online that weren't before. For example, I couldn't find any good images from the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I rooted around and found that I had a book with some pictures from that great movie, so I scanned them, and now they're in the Movie Section of my personal site.
The first thing you'll need is obviously a scanner. There are several different types, ranging from low-end handheld ones, to very high end drum scanners. I don't recommend getting a handheld scanner. I've never personally used one, but I've talked to people who have used them, and they had nothing good to say. It's the old story of getting what you pay for. In the mid-range you'll find flatbed scanners. I have a flatbed scanner, and it's great. I think they're the perfect combination of affordability and quality.
Also in the same general range, you'll find sheet fed scanners. These work kind of like a fax, images have to be fed through to scan. I don't think these are very good, due to the limitations. You'd have to rip a page out of a book to scan it, and scanning any 3D objects would be impossible. The high end range would be the drum scanner. From what I know of drum scanners, they are the highest quality, and the highest priced. The drum scanners that I've heard of are well out of reach of the average consumer.
Of course, this range is just a generalization. I'm sure that there are high- and low-end models of all types of scanners, but in general that's how it goes. My recommendation is to get an average quality flatbed scanner. I've used mine to scan for the Web, and even to scan photos for retouching. I've been very happy with the quality. You can probably get a good flatbed scanner for a few hundred dollars. If you're looking for a lot more detail about buying a scanner, the best place to go would be The Scanshop. You should find the information you're looking for there.
Well, now that you have your scanner set up, you're ready to scan some cool stuff. Scanning is very simple, and any decent scanner will come with a little booklet on how to do it. There are a few professional tips that they usually don't mention though:
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