How to Scan Fresh Flowers

What could be better than to preserve your flowers at the height of their perfection? You can scan them to use in computer applications or to make original prints for notecards, giftwraps and framing.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer Printers
• Scanners
• Fresh Flowers
• Picture Frames
• Acid-free Papers
• Printer Paper
• Computers

1. Get the freshest flowers. Those collected in the morning are the best.

2. Arrange the flowers or plants on a newly cleaned flatbed scanner plate with the lid off. Do this quickly - within 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Scan at a minimum of 300 dpi for large flowers 3 inches in size; scan at 1,200 dpi for 1/4-inch flowers.

4. Save as the largest file size possible.

5. Save as a *.jpg where "*" is the flower name.

6. Resize the picture to 640 pixels by 480 pixels or 1,024 pixels by 768 pixels to save file space, then resave.

Tips & Warnings

• To fine-tune your scan, retouch the background with a photo program such as Paintshop Pro or Photoshop. For example, flood fill in the background color by setting the tolerance to (+/-) 17 and the opacity to 100 percent (black seems to make the flowers stand out best). Resave the file.