I was actually wondering if you had it scanned (presumably there is now only one place in Vienna that could handle this, and it is prohibitively expensive) - or if you photographed it yourself. I can imagine how difficult it is with a camera, regarding proper lighting, but also the size, since you would want to be able to make reproductions to original size. Of course you do have some of the best equipment. From a technical point of view, in order to get a large file of it, did you take it in sections and stitch it in Photoshop?
Your size would fit the scanning table here at Gerald Schedy - but the prices are quite something: https://schedy.at/ - he doesn't come quite out (you have to contact for a quote), but a friend of mine said he was quoted years ago € 280.- for a painting by far not as large as yours.
Myself, some years ago I had a few pieces scanned by Digital Laut, but I hear they don't do it anymore. There still is this page on the net, but no link to it from the official site anymore - https://www.digitallaut.at/de/produktion/large-scan/ - I tried to contact Horst Kaiser (GF) but didn't get an answer. In 2017 I had a few works done there, and the prices then were between € 50.- and 80.-. In times past, this company was doing work for Ernst Fuchs, and more recently Joshi Bramer.
You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
I'm using a flatbed scanner for anything smaller than 60x50cm and a DSLR with a high quality 300mm tele lens for the larger formats. In both cases I have to stitch sections together, sometimes as many as 15 pieces. The biggest challenge with large formats is the lighting. For this I have four white fluorescent tubes hanging down from the ceiling (two on each side of the painting) and I'm using a circular polarizer filter to reduce reflections. I scanned 2 or 3 paintings with Schedy many years ago, but it was not only the ridiculous price but also the hassle to have to travel to Vienna and basically spend half a day with this. The scan result and resolution of my setup is as good as what Schedy can deliver with his minivan-sized cruse scanner.
Good answer - as I suspected, your set-up, equipment and expertise is very good.
Myself, I achieve pretty good results with considerably less, got a choice of my old Samsumg Pro 815 or a Canon EOS 30D - both already almost 20 years old. I take pics outside with a tripod on an overcast day when the lighting is quite even from all directions (at my studio, outside, concrete all around). But then, my work is not all that large. The quality of what Horst Kaiser achieved on the few pieces I had him scan is quite a bit better of course when you get into oversize reproductions. The ones I took myself so far worked out not too bad, on same size as the original. I have yet to try enhancing my photos with the use of AI on Clipdrop Upscaler - but anything over 2x you have to pay for. I am notoriously known to be a cheapskate, lol. Otherwise I would invest in a proper Photoshop, instead of the old CS2 I got for free.
Outside on an overcast day it definitely can work, unless your painting is very glossy. It would be good to add a grey scale chart to the photo to adjust the white balance accordingly. If you have trees around they might cast a greenish tint. But there is another problem if you want to take multiple photos to merge them because even on a overcast day the light intensity is changing all the time and if the differences are too big it will be difficult to get a consistent scan.