Robin Camille Davis
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Impromptu iPhone book scanner

December 21, 2011

I rediscovered a 40-page comic I live-drew a couple years ago with some friends. I wanted to give them digital copies, so I decided to make a quick scan of the whole thing. Minor detail: don't own a scanner. So, smartphone camera (lighter than DSLR). But this would also involve batch image editing all 40 pages to make them presentable, so the pages would have to line up in the frame from image to image — difficult if I were to hold the camera up with hands bound to shake and err. Primary attitude: want this done quick.

I rigged up a book scanner using stacks of books and a long ruler. This allowed me to turn the pages (drawn only one one side of the paper) and keep the book in the same place throughout the process. Scanning and batch editing in Photoshop only took about 30 minutes.

I had to move my light source so the bookstack on the right wouldn't cast such a dark shadow.

Worked a charm!