Fine Art Scanning: How We Reproduce Your Original Artwork

If you've ever tried to photograph your own painting or drawing, you'll know how hard it is to capture it well. Getting a faithful copy of an original is the step that quietly decides everything: whether your prints do the work justice, and whether the colours, texture and detail survive the journey from the wall to the page. It's a craft in its own right, and it's what our fine art scanning service is built around.

Why not just photograph it?

A camera can copy artwork, but getting it right is genuinely difficult. Photographing a flat piece fights three things at once: perspective, so the image ends up subtly stretched or leaning unless the camera is perfectly square; lighting, which has to be even across the whole surface or one side comes out brighter than the other; and glare, where varnish or paper catches the light and washes out detail. On top of that, camera colour drifts with whatever light you're shooting under.

Scanning a flat original removes all of it. The piece sits dead flat against the glass, lit evenly from within, with no lens distortion and no reflections, and the whole thing is colour managed from the start. For flat artwork, it's simply the more faithful way to capture what's really there.

How we scan

We scan at high resolution, up to 1200 ppi, which is far more than enough to hold every brushstroke, pencil line and fibre of the paper. Our scanner is profiled so colours stay true to your original rather than drifting warm or cool, and because the capture is so detailed, the reproduction keeps the subtle tonal transitions that make the difference between a copy and a convincing one.

Bigger than the scanner bed

Most originals are larger than any scanner bed, and this is where we do something a little different. We scan large pieces in overlapping sections and merge them back into a single, seamless file.

We built our own colour managed stitching software to do this, rather than relying on the general purpose tools most places use. In practice that means your large original comes back as one continuous, geometrically accurate, colour consistent image, with no visible seams and none of the distortion a camera rig introduces across a big piece. We can reproduce originals up to A2 this way as standard, and anything larger we'll look at case by case.

What you receive

Every scan is supplied as three files, so you have the right one for every use:

• A 1200 ppi TIFF, your archival master, for the largest and highest quality reproductions and for keeping safely for the future.
• A 600 ppi JPEG, a practical high quality file that's ideal for enlargements, and prints.
• A 300 ppi JPEG, sized for websites, online shops, social media and sharing.

Between them, you're covered whether you want to print large, sell prints, or simply show the work online.

What we can and can't scan

We scan flat, dry originals: watercolours, drawings, prints and photographs all reproduce beautifully. Pastel or chalk work is welcome too, as long as it has been fixed or sealed first so it's stable to handle. If a piece is larger than A2, still wet, or particularly fragile, talk to us first and we'll let you know honestly whether we can do it justice.

From scan to print

Once your original is scanned, the choice is yours. Some customers simply want a piece captured before they sell the original, so they keep the option to produce prints later. Others go straight from scan to print, and we reproduce the work as giclée prints on our Canson and Innova fine art papers, colour matched to the original, at any size up to 43 inches wide. If you'd like to know how we print, our post on what giclée printing is explains the process, and the file checklist covers getting the most from your scan.

How it works

Scanning is a separate, quoted service, priced per piece and starting from £10 for a small scan. A few practical things worth knowing before you come in:

• Drop off and collect. We don't accept artwork by post. Original work is precious, so we ask that you bring it in and collect it in person.
• Allow one to two weeks. Good reproduction takes care and can't be rushed, so this isn't a same day service. Plan the time in, especially around exhibitions or sales.
• Copyright stays with you. We can only reproduce work that you own or have permission to copy. By asking us to scan a piece, you confirm you hold that right, and we can't take responsibility for reproductions of work you don't have the rights to.

To get started, email your requirements to info@saxonprint.com for a quote, before bringing in your original. Whether you're archiving a lifetime's work or getting one piece ready to sell, we'll help you capture it properly.